Japan did the most amazing job of hosting the Olympic Games under the mostr trying of circumstances, and I would argue there probably isn’t a country on earth that could have done it nearly as well. But the big question is: Why?
We held the Games behind closed doors.
Only the most privileged of guests were able to see the athletes do their thing, and I’m sure the quarantining rules were broken for many.
Personally, I got to see almost nothing. I saw none of the downtown Tokyo events, but did get to perform an errand near Horse Park, where the equestrian events were held. The park was surrounded by a ghastly aluminium sheet wall about 30 meters high that reminded me of the notorious Imedla’s Pink Wall in Manila, which the former Philippines First Lady had quickly erected around a filty slum and then painted pink to avoid embarassing foreign dignitaries she had invited to an event she held in the 1970s.
I was delighted, though, to get a close but painfully brief, glance at both the men’s and women’s road race pelotons as they passed by very close to my home. It was a lovely blessing considering cycling is probably the only sport I was interested in, anyhow. But the peopleless Olympics that cost more than ever in history and left a legacy of empty pockets only reminded me that Tokyo is not the best place to hold the Games. It has been awarded them three times, cancelling once (1940), succeeding magnificently the next time (1964), and doing a brilliant job but for no understandable reason the next time (2020).
