Yesterday, Monday, Jan. 4, marked 200 days until the start of the Tokyo Olympics. Obviously, we had this same countdown a year ago, so hopefully the second time goes better than the first time.
Of course, there is a lot of things that have to fall into place for the Tokyo Olympics to take place as planned. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused much havoc around the world and has forced the organizers of the Tokyo Games as well as the International Olympic Committee, to spend millions upon millions of dollars to make the changes necessary to move the Olympics back a year, an unprecedented move, something that has never been done before.
I believe that keeping athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and all other stakeholders (including media) safe is a top priority for all the organizers. Obviously, with all the money that has gone into these Olympics, they need to happen, one way or the other. If things haven't cleared up a bit more by the time that June rolls around, I think there may be some adjustments made to the entire Olympics as we know them. To me, the possibility still exists that the number of media who are allowed to attend the Games will be reduced, which could obviously have an impact on my planned travel to Tokyo at the end of July. While this has not been officially floated as a possibility, part of me still believes this could happen.
However, I think the hope for everyone is that the pandemic is slowed down enough by the vaccines that the Olympics can go on as planned. I anticipate that if we as media are all allowed to attend the Olympics, we will have to get the vaccine before traveling to Japan. This has also not been announced, but it is something that I anticipate happening in the next few months. I am guessing this would be the safest thing for the people of Tokyo.
But, with 200 days to go, there's still time to get it all figured out.
On a somewhat related note, I spent yesterday skiing, which is obviously very much associated with the Winter Olympics, which are now just more than a year out, slated for February of 2022 in Beijing, China. Over the last few weeks, I've been watching a lot of World Cup Skiing, biathlon and more on NBC and NBCSN and on Sunday morning, I watched the men's downhill, which was held in Bormio, Italy. This location is, first and foremost, so stunning. I find any areas of the Italian Alps to be one of the most beautiful places around. The Bormio course is slated to host the downhill as part of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games in 2026, so I am sure that NBC will have plenty of beautiful footage to feature on the coverage.
I can't lie, I am almost more excited for the next Winter Olympics than I am for the Summer Olympics. Not totally, but even watching at home prior to getting the chance to cover the Games in 2014, I always get more excited for the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics. However, I did spend tons of time this summer watching replays from previous Summer Olympics, which was a lot of fun and helped get me through the summer of the pandemic.
For the record, two other upcoming Olympics passed countdown milestones recently. Last week marked 400 days until the Beijing Olympics in February 2022. And just a couple of days ago marked 1,300 days until the start of the Paris Olympics in July 2024.
Monday marked 200 days until the start of the Tokyo Olympics.
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