Why are we still having the Olympics?

The vast majority of the people in Japan did not want to have the Olympics during the current COVID outbreak.

Viewership in the US has fallen to 33 year lows.
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/olympics/tokyo-olympics-opening-drew-16-7-million-tv-viewers-in-the-united-states-a-33/article_f1ec3998-a0d8-5e38-8cf7-6c0036f54acd.html

The last time I actually watched much of an Olympics was when they were in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. I am not a much of sports fan, and the news reports appear to be more about who is kneeling and who is testing positive to COVID, which has totally turned off any remaining interest for me.

For many of the events, the primary competition seems to be between biochemists and drug detection systems to see who can get the most performance-enhancing steroids into the athletes without getting caught.

The whole basis of the Olympic competition is based on segregation based on gender and teams based on national origin. Is it totally outmoded?

Is there any reason to keep having the Olympics?

I am with you. Although I would tear it all down and restructure it, not get rid of it in full.

If they can’t keep the politics out of the Olympics, its raison d’etre has disappeared.

The only political statement should be not going. Competitors should not be going and hijacking the event to make political statements.

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if the news reports are on who is kneeling, find other places to get news.

I’ve never cared for the Olympics, so nothing’s changed.

More than 70 million people in Japan watched the opening ceremony.

Let me see: 1968, 1972, 1980 and 1984 come to mind where politics and the Olympics mixed.

And any nation bringing the politics to the games should have been mmediately sent home.

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Well in 1980 and 1984 they did indeed stay home.

Good. That’s the way it should be done. Hopefully it will be done to the CCP. They should not be hoping and then taking knees at the games.

The USA refused to go to the Moscow Olympics. The favour was returned at the LA games in 1984.

Sure there is. For one thing a whole bunch of kids train really hard for a shot to be in the games. And they relish the opportunity to travel and compete and meet other athletes from other countries. If done properly it can make the host country and city some major bucks and employee a lot of folks. And even if the viewership is down, networks from all over the world make some serious money. And for me, being a sports lover, I get to see a lot of sports that are not regularly shown. And the competition level is always really good which makes it entertaining to watch.

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… for what it was worth. :neutral_face:

Not exactly. Goody two shoes Carter wouldn’t let them go.

The USA did not attend the 1980 for political reasons.

Yes … Carter’s politics.

Completely and utterly irrelevant to the point that politics has been involved in the Olympics for many decades.

Joined by 64 other nations. In protest to the CCCP invasion of Afghanistan.

Which was backed up by a House vote of 386 - 12 and a Senate vote of 88 - 4. So very much bi-partisan support.

Despite what the Aussie PM wanted Australia attended; albeit some sports associations did not attend.

It was interesting that both Great Britain and Australia initially were two strong voices to join the U.S. in protesting the games. And yet both countries did send athletes to Moscow.