buruma174_Yuichi YamazakiGetty Images_tokyoolumpicsprotest Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images

What Is the Point of the Olympics?

Tokyo in 2021 surely doesn’t need the Olympic Games. And yet, even during a pandemic, the Olympic army marches on, upholding its only ideal: making enormous amounts of money for itself, for sponsors, for property developers, and sometimes for corrupt politicians.

NEW YORK – Kaori Yamaguchi, an Olympic medalist in judo and an executive member of the Japanese Olympic Committee, made an astonishing statement – astonishing, that is, for an Olympic official. She said that Japan had been “cornered” into holding this year’s Games during a pandemic: “What will these Olympics be for, and for whom? The Games have already lost meaning and are being held just for the sake of them. I believe we have already missed the opportunity to cancel.”

https://prosyn.org/4ZOrY7d