Intimidated – presumably – by the concept of exposing the unvaccinated people to the horrors of the worst medical epidemic to hit international sports since Bob Costas’ uber-knotty pink eye, the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics (still, in spite of the strong powers of Big Calendar, being referred to as the “Summer Games 2020Have announced that they will not allow international spectators to attend the event. The decision was announced this morning before July 23 kickoff of the Games, is expected to cost literally billions of dollars in revenue from international travel and tourism, plus refunds on the 600,000 tickets already sold to visitors abroad.
The Olympics – as they are, foretelling thousands of people getting close together so they can yell at each other while watching other people breathe extreme difficult – have always been, shall we say, unpredictable as a COVID-era entertainment prospect. Japan’s slow rollout of vaccinations hasn’t helped that outlook, and Deadline notes that was a poll recently held in Japan largely against holding the games this year(It’s hard to blame them; if we lived on an already densely populated island, the idea was to invite untold hordesf bodies, and all those bodies’ microscopic murderous passengers, hanging out and spitting on things would probably be pretty discouraging too.)
The decision to ban international travelers was made in collaboration between the organizers of the Games, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, as well as with the local government and the Japanese government as a whole(The Paralympic Games start in August and face similar restrictions.)