{"id":110844,"date":"2021-08-03T09:22:04","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T09:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=110844"},"modified":"2021-08-03T09:58:09","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T09:58:09","slug":"covid-cancel-confession-as-tide-turns-in-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=110844","title":{"rendered":"COVID cancel 'confession' as tide turns in Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a confession to make. I was one of those who thought the Tokyo Olympics<\/a> should be cancelled. The pandemic was biting hard in Japan and vaccine rates were among the lowest in the OECD \u2013 that sounds familiar. Opinion polls had the Japanese public overwhelmingly in favour of cancellation. And an Olympic Games in front of empty stadiums? Why bother?<\/p>\n

Happy to have got it so wrong. These Olympics have been magnificent. Even the tide of public opinion in Japan has turned.<\/p>\n

For us here in Australia, it's like the performance of the Australian team in Tokyo has been tailor made for our time. Did Rio or Beijing or London grab Australia's attention like Tokyo has? Of course it's the time zone but more likely the fact much of the country has been in lockdown throughout.<\/p>\n

OLYMPICS BLOG: UPDATES, NEWS<\/strong><\/em><\/a> |<\/strong><\/em> TOKYO GAMES EVENT CENTRE: SCHEDULE, RESULTS, MEDAL TALLY<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ariarne<\/p>\n

You know what it's felt like? Sydney 2000. The best Olympics ever. Juan's words not mine.<\/p>\n

There's no ignoring the stress around lockdown in so many parts of the country, particularly in areas of Sydney where you're likely to find the army parked at the end of your street. And no amount of medals will dull the pain of a lost job or business.<\/p>\n

But in amongst that ugliness there's a feeling of community that's familiar to regional Australia but not as easy find in the big smoke. That exists right now. Maybe that's why it feels a bit like Sydney 2000.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On the daily run (OK, walk) people seem to be nice to each other. There are smiles as fellow walkers step into the middle of the road so as not to catch COVID. Neighbours are talking, with masks and socially distanced across the road or over the fence, about the Olympics. Daily schedules are being tweaked around Olympic finals. And instant experts are being made \u2013 I have a neighbour who's the full bottle on Australia's six-time Olympic table tennis guru Jian Fang Lay. What a legend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A little inspiration never goes astray. If we're going to suffer through this lockdown let's have some stories to make us dream of better to come. Peter Bol, the Sudanese refugee who spent four years living in a refugee camp in Egypt before moving to Perth. He only started running competitively at 16. A proud Australian.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We've witnessed Emma McKeon's domination in the pool along with Ariarne Titmus' domination of Katie Ledecky.<\/p>\n

Kaylee McKeown's determination to perform on the biggest stage after the loss of her father.<\/p>\n

Jess Fox in the canoe slalom. We've always loved canoe slalom haven't we? We do now.<\/p>\n

The awesome foursome reborn \u2013 men and women.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The stories keep coming and there's more inspiration on the way in the Paralympics. It's what we so desperately need. A distraction from case numbers and vaccine rates. Counting personal bests and medals of any colour is so much more fun.<\/p>\n

And as the Olympic curtain prepares to go down this weekend, and while this Australian "togetherness" is harnessed, there is one more sporting event you need to get your teeth into.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of the Bledisloe Cup and The Rugby Championship with live, ad-free and on-demand coverage starting this Saturday 7 August\u00a0on\u00a0Stan Sport<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"SBW's<\/p>\n

Even if you know more about canoe slalom or table tennis than you do about rugby there's another team wearing gold this weekend and it needs your support.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies and the All Blacks will belt the living daylights out of each other at Eden Park. What's not to love about that. And even if you've had a little soft spot for our trans- Tasman neighbours over the past couple of weeks in Tokyo \u2013 they go OK at rowing and gymnastics as well as rugby – there's no room for brotherly love this time round.<\/p>\n

This love of sport and our people representing us on the world stage\u2026 it feels bloody good. Get on board with the Wallabies this weekend in Auckland.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a confession to make. I was one of those who thought the Tokyo Olympics should be cancelled. The pandemic was biting hard in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110846,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110844\/revisions\/110846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}