Tokyo doctors call to cancel Olympics

(May 18, 2021) – A top medical organization in Japan has thrown its weight behind calls to cancel the Tokyo Olympics, saying hospitals are already overwhelmed as the country battles a spike in coronavirus infections less than three months from the start of the Summer Games.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, dated May 14 and posted online yesterday, the Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association said hospitals in the host city “have their hands full and have almost no spare capacity.”

“We strongly request that the authorities convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that holding the Olympics is difficult and obtain its decision to cancel the Games,” the letter said.

The association, which represents about 6,000 primary care doctors, made the appeal amid a jump in infections that has resulted in a shortage of hospital beds in some parts of the Japanese capital and stoked alarm across the country.

Suga on Friday (May 14) extended a third state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures until May 31.

But the prime minister said that holding a “safe and secure” Olympic games was possible if tight preventive measures were implemented, including actions that would keep ordinary Japanese from coming into contact with those arriving in connection with the Games. – Full report

MORE: Stephen Wade, Olympic reporter for Associated Press, tweets the main reason Olympics are going ahead in pandemic is financial, noting how the TV money is 75% of IOC income while sponsors account for 18%. Plus, Japan has sunk $15B into this — maybe even 2x that. Wade adds that polls show 60-80% (depending how question is phrased) of Japanese citizens want to cancel the event.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Program
Men’s One Person Dinghy – Laser
Women’s One Person Dinghy – Laser Radial
Men’s Two Person Dinghy – 470
Women’s Two Person Dinghy – 470
Men’s Skiff – 49er
Women’s Skiff – 49erFx
Men’s One Person Dinghy Heavy – Finn
Men’s Windsurfing – RS:X
Women’s Windsurfing – RS:X
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17

Original dates: July 24 to August 9, 2020
Revised dates: July 23 to August 8, 2021

Details: https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/schedule/olympic/