By Norm Frauenheim-
The Olympics are often portrayed as a standard, the flip side to what the boxing acronyms represent. But the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, is beginning to look like just another ruling body with a rack of made-up belts for sale. The IOC wraps itself in flags, national anthems, mottos and the medal count. But the IOC counts only the money.
A looming disaster in Tokyo exposes the bottom line.
Citius – Altius – Fortius. That’s Latin, Olympic-speak, for Faster – Higher – Stronger. More like Faster – Higher – $tronger.
The IOC landed in Tokyo this week like the WBA seeking a sanctioning fee for an interim title. Opening ceremonies for the already postponed Olympics, the 32nd in the history of the Summer Games, are supposed to happen on July 23, just 16 days from the date that Japanese health authorities declared a state of emergency.
Sha’Carri Richardson, an American sprinter banned for smoking pot, won’t be the only one not there. Fans won’t be either. They’ve been banned from attending because of the re-emergence of COVID-19. Apparently, The Games must go on. But the delta variant isn’t playing games.
The emergency declaration coincided with IOC President Thomas Bach’s arrival in Tokyo, where he began three days of quarantine at a five-star hotel. Enjoy the room service. It’s hard to know what else there will be to enjoy at a joyless Games. It’ll be an Olympics in the bubble, essentially a television show.
For Japan, it’s already a financial disaster. Japan invested a reported $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics before the Pandemic. Now it’s reported to be at least twice that much.
Who pays? The Japanese, who in polling over the last six months were increasingly opposed to staging the Pandemic Games. The IOC should have listened, or at least been prepared with alternate plans. But the money – rights’ fees, advertising, travel and all the rest – added to a force that led to the danger confronting a nation and the world’s best athletes.
The debt is staggering. All it buys is the potential for more of a Pandemic that just won’t go away. It scares the stock market. It means empty planes, empty hotel rooms and empty seats all over again. Vaccines are supposed to work. But not everybody is willing to take a couple of jabs. No vaccine for stupidity.
Meanwhile, the ominous news is everywhere, including boxing, which had begun to move ahead with plans for business as usual.
On the same day that Japan’s emergency ban on fan attendance at Olympic venues was announced, there was a Twitter report from Mike Coppinger about a possible COVID outbreak in Tyson Fury’s training camp for a second rematch with Deontay Wilder on July 24 at Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena. As of Thursday, there was no confirmation of the report.
If true, however, it would represent a major setback in boxing’s hopes for business as usual. At best, it would force a postponement, another one in a long series of chaotic delays. At worst, it would mean no fight at all. Only a ruling through arbitration forced the third fight.
But neither Fury-Wilder III nor Tokyo Olympics XXXII is worth the risk of more COVID. If this Pandemic continues, there won’t be any sanctioning fees left for anybody.Attachments area
