Opinion | Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022: Covid-19 and ‘Cold War’ sees clock tick on the next two Olympics

The coronavirus pandemic still threatens Tokyo 2020, now delayed to 2021, as the world waits for a vaccine

Beijing’s geopolitical tensions only appear to be rising with a number of nations in advance of the 2022 Winter Games

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Tokyo 2020 in 2021 is in jeopardy, and Beijing 2022 looks like a serious question mark. Where do we go from here? Photo: EPA

Published: 8:00am, 23 Jul 2020Updated: 2:22pm, 23 Jul 2020

Friday is supposed to be Japan’s day in the international spotlight. Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium filled with athletes from around the world, adoring fans, the maddening blitz of photos, and a billion or more people tuned in for the opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympic Games.

A showcase of Japanese culture, a blend of tradition and modernity, of a country who pulled off the last major international sporting event – the 2019 Rugby World Cup – with flying colours. All ushering in 17 days of sporting competition, escapism at its best as the world puts aside its differences for a brief, fleeting moment.

Tokyo was going to signify a new era for the world and a country crawling its way out of a long, dark economic period, all wrapped into a massive party.

This is not the world we live in anymore. The calendar year of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic washing over cities, countries and continents for months on end, has given new meaning to the word “relentless”.

Tokyo was supposed to be kicking off a global party on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Cancelling events at unprecedented rates, sending billions of people into lockdown, shutting down economies and wreaking havoc on what feels like every inhabitant on the planet.