Weekly News Digest
産経オンライン英会話 ニュースディスカッション教材
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics scheduled for this coming summer have been postponed for about one year because of the new coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe. It is a reasonable decision since there is no sign yet that spread of the COVID-19 is under control.
Postponement of the 2020 Games triggers many challenges, such as the selection of national team members, rescheduling of Olympic venues and securing their staff, maintaining support organizations for the event, and managing the swelling financial burden. Fortunately, the worst scenario of cancelling the Tokyo Games has been avoided. However, Japan must now begin anew and demonstrate its resolve to make the 2021 sports pageant a great success.
We were surprised by two matters in the decision to delay the Games.
One is that Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a phone call with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on March 24, proposed “considering postponement of the Tokyo Games for about a year,” and the IOC chief responded, “I agree 100%.” And that was it.
The Abe-Bach agreement made postponement of the Olympics a matter of de facto certainty, even though it was subsequently approved by the IOC executive board in an emergency meeting.
Prior to the decision, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee and host city Tokyo Metropolitan Government had been virtually under the thumb of the IOC, as exemplified by the decision to change the venue for the Olympic marathons and race walking from Tokyo to Sapporo, Hokkaido. The atmosphere was one of forbidding any expression of disagreement with the IOC.
There were many who voiced the opinion that “the final say rests with the IOC” regarding whether to reschedule the Games as a result of the global spread of the novel coronavirus. It is extraordinary that the IOC president received, and then signaled agreement with a proposal from the leader of the host country, without first seeking approval of the executive board.
Before the telephone talks with IOC President Bach, Prime Minister Abe had obtained concerted support from the leaders of the G-7 nations in a video conference on March 13, for “holding the Tokyo Games in their entirety to prove that mankind can overcome the new coronavirus.”
After the IOC decision, Bach said the Tokyo Games “will become a celebration of mankind overcoming this unprecedented crisis of the coronavirus.” It may be that he took to heart Prime Minister Abe’s statement in the G-7 video conference.
The Tokyo Games have thus taken on a new meaning and mission as a symbol of mankind’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This can also be called Prime Minister Abe’s pledge to the world, placing Japan as host nation in a position to fulfill its responsibilities for the success of the XXXII Olympiad.
The first thing that must be done in this regard is to concentrate on the challenge of subduing the spread of the COVID-19 infections. Experts in the Japanese government have expressed concern over the risk of “overshoot” of the virus, or explosive increases in the number of cases in Japan. Even in Tokyo, the host city of the Games, the number of COVID-19 cases has continued to rise. Combating the spread of this infection cannot be achieved without cooperation of the general public.
If the pandemic is not under control within a year, it will become impossible to hold the Tokyo Olympics. For this reason, Japan needs to play a leading role in the development of treatments and vaccines against the virus.
Our second surprise was the swift signal of support for the postponement of the Games by major international sports organizations, including World Athletics (formerly the International Association of Athletics Federations) and FINA (the International Swimming Federation).
The World Athletics and FINA championships, scheduled to take place next summer in Oregon in the United States and the city of Fukuoka, Japan, respectively, were expected to be the biggest impediments to putting off the Olympics for a year. But both federations expressed willingness to flexibly consider rescheduling their events.
U.S. broadcasting giant NBC Universal, which has exclusive broadcast rights in the United States, as well as major corporate sponsors such as America’s Coca-Cola Co., also supported the decision to postpone the Games. Thus, the value of the Games has been widely acknowledged.
The IOC has been struggling to secure host city candidates for the Olympics because of the bloated costs and local commitments required, as well as competition from the surge in popularity of world championships of the various sports held outside of the Olympics. Seeing the Games in a quandary, however, two key international organizations for both swimming and track and field, in addition to a range of other groups, came together to express agreement with the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. If the Tokyo Games prove successful, this may well help to revive a sense of direction to the straying Olympic movement.
In the midst of this momentum from world sports organizations, there has been a conspicuous lack of presence from sports organizations in Japan. There is a need first for some soul searching, and then for a renewed spirit of leadership from Japanese sports organizations to support a successful Tokyo Olympics.
IOC President Bach said, “The Olympic torch will remain in Japan as a symbol of hope, and as the light at the end of this dark tunnel the whole world is going through together.”
The torch relay that was slated to begin in Fukushima Prefecture on March 26 was also suspended. This too was a valid decision, as we are still in the dark tunnel of the battle against this infectious disease.
We want to see the Olympic flame being handed from one runner to another, accompanied by cheers from joyful crowds along the way. This is the happy scene we look forward to witnessing in all parts of Japan next year.
この夏に開催が予定されていた東京五輪・パラリンピックが、新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的大流行）を受け、１年程度延期されることになった。感染拡大が収まらない現状をかんがみれば、妥当な判断である。
代表選手選考や会場、人員の確保、組織の維持や膨らむ経費負担など課題は山積する。だが、中止という最悪の選択は避けられたのだ。意を新たに、再スタートを切らなくてはならない。
延期の決定に、驚かされたことが２つある。
１つは、安倍晋三首相が国際オリンピック委員会（ＩＯＣ）のバッハ会長との電話会談で「大会の１年程度延期の検討」を提案し、バッハ会長がこれに「百パーセント同意する」と応じたことだ。
これで事実上、大会の延期は既定の方針となり、その後のＩＯＣ臨時理事会で承認された。
五輪マラソン・競歩コースの札幌変更に代表されるように、これまで五輪組織委員会や東京都は、いわばＩＯＣの言いなりだった。異を唱えることは、はばかられる空気もあった。
世界的な新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大を受けた五輪の大会日程についても、「決定権はＩＯＣにある」との声ばかりが聞かれた。ＩＯＣ会長が開催国首脳の提案を受け、理事会を経ずに重大な定を示唆したこと自体、極めて異例である。
安倍首相はバッハ会長との電話会談に先立ち先進７カ国（Ｇ７）首脳テレビ電話会議で、東京五輪を「人類が新型コロナウイルスに打ち勝つ証しとして、完全な形で実施する」と訴え、一致した支持を取り付けていた。
延期の決定後、バッハ会長は東京五輪について「新型コロナウイルスによる前例のない危機を克服した人類の祝祭となる」と述べた。これはＧ７における安倍首相の発言を受けたものだろう。
東京五輪はこれで、感染症との戦いの象徴として新たな意義、使命を持った。安倍首相が世界に向けて発信した公約ともいえ、成功に責任を負う立場となった。
まず力を尽くすべきは、感染拡大の収束である。国内では政府の専門家会議が爆発的に患者が急増する「オーバーシュート」の懸念を示しており、五輪開催地の東京でも感染者が増え続けている。感染拡大との戦いは、国民の協力を抜きには成り立たない。
１年を経ても世界的流行が収束していなければ、五輪を開催することはできない。治療薬やワクチンの開発に向けても、日本がリードすることが求められる。
２つ目の驚きは、ＩＯＣの決定に対して世界陸連や国際水泳連盟といった主要競技団体がいち早く賛同の意を示したことだ。
来夏には米オレゴン州で世界陸上、福岡市で水泳の世界選手権といった大イベントが予定されており、これが五輪１年延期の最大の障壁となるとみられていた。だが両連盟は、柔軟に日程変更を検討することまで表明した。
米国での放映権を独占するＮＢＣユニバーサルや大スポンサーの米コカ・コーラなども延期の決断を支持した。
米国での放映権を独占するＮＢＣユニバーサルや大スポンサーの米コカ・コーラなども延期の決断を支持した。
五輪の価値が認められたということである。各競技団体の世界大会の隆盛や、大会経費の肥大化などから五輪の地盤沈下が声高に言い立てられ、開催立候補都市の確保にもＩＯＣは苦心していた。
それでも五輪の窮地に、水陸の連盟をはじめとする各勢力が一致して賛意の声を上げたのだ。東京五輪は成功すれば、迷走する五輪ムーブメントに一定の方向性を示すことができる。
世界のスポーツ界にその機運がある今、日本のスポーツ界にこれをリードする気概が求められる。延期をめぐる動きの中で全く存在感を示せなかったことを、まず反省すべきだろう。
バッハ会長はまた、「聖火は希望の象徴として日本に残り、暗いトンネルの出口を照らす光になる」とも述べた。
大会の延期を受けて２６日にスタートする予定だった聖火リレーも中止となった。これも妥当な判断だった。現状はいまだ、感染症との戦いのトンネルの中にある。
聖火は沿道の歓声、祝福を受けて走者の手から手へ受け渡されてほしい。来年、日本中で、そうした幸せな光景をみたい。