{"id":73363,"date":"2021-05-20T01:44:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T01:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=73363"},"modified":"2021-05-20T02:07:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T02:07:50","slug":"olympic-legends-plea-as-japan-turns-against-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=73363","title":{"rendered":"Olympic legend's plea as Japan turns against Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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.<\/p>\n

Overseas fans have already been banned<\/a>, while much of the country remains in the grip of a state of emergency.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

"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.<\/p>\n

"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.<\/p>\n

"I completely appreciate their perspective."<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

"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.<\/p>\n

"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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"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."<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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

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

"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.<\/p>\n

"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.<\/p>\n

"If it can go ahead, you want that opportunity to compete."<\/p>\n

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

\"Giaan<\/p>\n

"From the athletes' point of view, I know they're incredibly grateful," Rooney told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"Let's face it, it's not going to be postponed again. If it gets called off this time, that's it.<\/p>\n

"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.<\/p>\n

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

"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."<\/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>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/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\/73363"}],"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=73363"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73365,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73363\/revisions\/73365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}