Last month, Brisbane, Australia was named the host of the 2032 Summer Olympics, an announcement that came as athletes geared up for this year’s competition in Tokyo — and as locals, living under a fourth state of emergency, continued to call for the event’s cancellation. The day of the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremonies, Tokyo recorded more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases — including 19 people linked to the Olympics — and more than 80% of Japanese residents were opposed to or concerned about the Games taking place, The Mercury News reported. One week in, the city reported 4,058 positive cases — a new record.
Hesitance to hosting the Games seems logical in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which postponed the 2020 Olympics by a year and exposed the systemic failures of both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government to protect Japanese civilians and workers from the disease. Pfizer donated vaccines to Olympic athletes, but the people of Tokyo are likely to face hospital overcrowding and further extended states of emergency as local vaccine distribution remains insufficient. Backlash against hosting the Olympics, though, isn’t limited to Tokyo or our current landscape. While governments often tout potential economic boosts tied to hosting, the Games disrupt civilian life through massive construction projects that serve visitors more than local populations — while exacting an environmental toll, disenfranchising already vulnerable communities, and saddling taxpayers with long-term debt.
