Foreign Media Doubt Tokyo Olympics Success... "Changed Status Compared to Before" Harsh Criticism

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] On the 23rd, ahead of the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, major foreign media outlets cast doubts on the success of the event, delivering harsh criticism such as "there is nothing to praise."

British broadcaster BBC reported on the 22nd (local time) that the Tokyo Olympics are being held amid the ongoing global impact of COVID-19, with strict quarantine rules applied not only to athletes but also to event officials. It pointed out that despite the host country's quarantine measures, COVID-19 has already affected the event even before it began, noting that 12 additional confirmed cases among event officials were reported on the 22nd alone, bringing the total to 87.

The US New York Times (NYT) also predicted that the opening ceremony would fail to attract attention due to a series of scandals involving the organizers, including the dismissal of Kentaro Kobayashi, the director of the opening ceremony, for trivializing the Nazi Holocaust, just one day before the opening on the 22nd. The NYT noted that unlike NBC, the official Olympic broadcaster, which aired the opening ceremony during prime time in previous years, this time it was broadcast live at 6:55 a.m. Eastern Time, reflecting a diminished status.

The British magazine The Economist forecast that unlike previous games, the Olympics held amid the COVID-19 pandemic would unlikely generate the usual "Olympic boom." The Economist relayed a store manager’s complaint that sales at the official souvenir shop inside Tokyo Aqua City Mall are only about 10% of the initially expected level.

The British daily The Guardian also compared the Tokyo Olympics to the 1920 Antwerp Olympics held during the Spanish flu pandemic, criticizing it as "throwing a party amid a global pandemic." The Guardian stated, "100,000 spectators, 11,000 athletes, 79,000 event officials, and journalists are gathering in a country where only 22% of the population has been vaccinated," and criticized, "This country (Japan) is simply not prepared for the Olympics."

The Washington Post (WP) also reported that amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, neither the Japanese public nor major sponsors such as Toyota have high expectations for the Olympics.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.