Olympic legend's plea as Japan turns against Games

Olympic champion Grant Hackett says the upcoming Tokyo Olympics are "what the world needs" after more than a year of fighting COVID-19.

Polls in Japan are showing more than 60 per cent of locals want the Games cancelled, while last week the Tokyo Medical Practitioners' Association sent a letter to the Prime Minister and head of the organising committee pleading for the Games to be called off.

Overseas fans have already been banned, while much of the country remains in the grip of a state of emergency.

Japan is currently in the midst of a second wave, with data from Johns Hopkins University showing the country recording more than 6000 new cases per day, with around 100 deaths per day.

While acknowledging that this will be a very different Olympics, Hackett told Wide World of Sports it's reasonable for the Japanese to feel concerned.

"You feel for anyone who feels like that," he said, at an event to announce Amazon Prime as the broadcaster for the upcoming Australian Swimming Trials.

"They've been through such a difficult time, like most nations around the world, so you can appreciate the anxiety that comes with hosting a big international event.

"I completely appreciate their perspective."

Despite the current situation in Japan, and in other places around the world, Hackett believes there's a humanitarian reason for the Games to proceed.

"I think the biggest reason to go ahead is the inspiration we'll see. That's what the world needs at this point in time," he said.

"Everyone has a fair bit of fatigue from what we've had to manage emotionally over the last year and a bit, and I think when you host an Olympic Games, it's such an inspiring event, the performances we see can lift a nation.

"We know what it did for Australia when Sydney hosted the Games, it unites a country. It did that for us, and hopefully it does that for the Japanese people."

The three-time gold medallist said the athletes would be able to remain focused on competition, even though these Games will feel very different to those in the past.

With these Olympics delayed an extra year, it's been five years since the sporting world gathered in Rio for the 2016 Games.

"As an athlete, you'd do anything to compete at the Olympics, because it's the pinnacle, the ultimate event," Hackett explained.

"The scarcity of that opportunity is what makes it so special, so the fact you've had to wait another year probably makes this moment even more special.

"You sympathise, you empathise, but at the end of the day you want that opportunity, because you've put not just five years of work into it, but a lifetime into the preparation.

"If it can go ahead, you want that opportunity to compete."

Hackett's views were echoed by fellow gold medalist Giaan Rooney, who noted that everyone realises the sacrifices being made for these Games to go ahead.

"From the athletes' point of view, I know they're incredibly grateful," Rooney told Wide World of Sports.

"Let's face it, it's not going to be postponed again. If it gets called off this time, that's it.

"It's very different for a footballer or a netballer who gets to compete every weekend. If they have a bad game, it's only a week before they can prove themselves again.

"For an Olympic athlete, it comes around once every four years, or in this case, it's been five years since Rio.

"That pressure goes to another level this time, because for the rest of time everyone will talk about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics that were actually held in 2021."

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