This week, Tokyo, which is officially in a state of emergency, announced its highest number of new COVID-19 cases at any point during the pandemic.Īs others have written, there’s a certain cognitive dissonance with being enamored with the idea of the Olympics while being disillusioned with what often feels like a destructive institution. Indeed, while the Olympics will always have its critics, the ongoing pandemic-which appears to have already permeated the Athlete Village and forced medal-favorites to withdraw from competition-is guaranteed to make this year’s iteration even more contentious than usual. Because of the COVID-induced spectator ban, Tokyo 2020 will have to endure the unfortunate irony of seeing its recently completed $1.4 billion Olympic Stadium sit empty while the Games are still taking place. There is, of course, also a less inspiring side to the Games, one that is physically manifest in white elephant venues that fall into disrepair even as former host cities are still paying them off years later. I wish I could inject this stuff into my veins. I’m half Austrian and confess there was a tingle of nationalist pride (which usually only surfaces during the Winter Games) when Anna Kiesenhofer, an unsponsored, self-coached mathematician, boldly ditched the peloton early in the women’s individual cycling road race and managed to hang on for the win-apparently because her fellow riders didn’t know that she was still in the race. It’s been an unexpected joy to see Britain’s Adam Peaty, the sleeve-tatted, red-capped colossus, blast his way to a second consecutive Olympic gold in the 100-meter breaststroke.

And, once again, I am reminded that one of the great, redeeming virtues of the Olympics is that they cause us to care about sports that we would otherwise only watch in response to a bribe or a threat. Sixteen months after Tokyo 2020 was initially postponed, the pandemic Games have commenced.

Aura synonym