Having the 2020 Games postponed by a year and not really being sure whether it was even going to happen was tough.

How hard was it to time a peak in the unknown?

There were the 12 Victorian (AUS) swimmers denied the opportunity to compete in the Olympic trials due to COVID regulations around travel. [1]

There is talk of a Canadian swimmer whose positive COVID-19 test precluding them from their Olympic Trials was shown to be a false positive the day later.

Then there were the three Olympic athletes ruled out of the Games before leaving home due to positive COVID tests.[2] And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

And the Ugandan athlete who test positive upon arrival in Japan and has been ruled out of the Games. [3] And that won’t be the last case we hear of.

And the athletes who have been ruled out after testing positive at the Games – and this is just  Day 1.[4]

Then there was the Canadian female basketball player who had to choose between being a breast feeding mum or an Olympian, as family members have been banned from the Tokyo Olympic Village.[5]

Then there was the US track athlete who had to choose between copping a drug ban for not opening the door to drug testing officials or sharing the abortion she had two days prior to the visit as the reason for not answering the door. The end result – no privacy and a drug ban.[6]

On the flip side there is the 80+% of Japanese who disapprove of the Games happening at all.[7]  One can only assume they feel the imposition of the Games is not fair.

Life’s not fair. Even at the Olympics.

References

[1] https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/olympics/swimming/tokyo-olympic-swimming-trials-australian-athletes-hopes-of-qualifying-crushed-by-covid19/news-story/436ca2c9da2be93cdef478ae4e40ea92

[2] https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1110516/chile-taekwondo-player-tests-positive

[3] https://swimswam.com/vaccinated-ugandan-olympic-athlete-denied-entry-to-japan-after-coronavirus-test/

[4] https://www.npr.org/2021/07/18/1017606827/two-athletes-have-tested-positive-for-covid-19-inside-the-olympic-village

[5] https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/basketball/olympics-canada-basketball-kim-gaucher-breastfeeding-1.6078717

[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/sports/olympics/abortion-doping-olympics-mcneal.html

[7] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/17/national/tokyo-olympics-cancel-survey/