On March 9th, unconfirmed news came out that the games would take place - but with no foreign spectators present to watch them, and with some events entirely closed to the public.
Another problem occurred the following month, when local organizing committee head Yoshiro Mori made some incredibly sexist public remarks, and after a week of pressure was forced to resign on February 12th. This was shot down by the Japanese government at the end of the month, but not everyone was convinced how long they would continue, with public opinion in Japan having now turned overwhelmingly against holding the games.
The new dates also came under pressure, as in January 2021, with the world in the middle of a second wave of the pandemic, stronger in many places - including Japan - than the first, rumors began to circulate that the games would be simply scrapped, and Tokyo would be awarded the 2032 games as compensation (hosts had already been designated for 20). On March 24th, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that he and International Olympic Committee Head Thomas Bach had agreed to postpone the games by one year, with the opening ceremonies scheduled for July 23, 2021. With major national federations, including those of Canada and Australia announcing on March 22nd that they would not compete in the games if held as scheduled, and the United States Olympic Committee sending a petition to the Japanese to delay the games, there was little choice left. As it became clear that a return to some sort of normalcy would not happen in most of the world by the summer, and with massive travel restrictions in place, athletes finding themselves unable to train properly, and a number of qualifying events canceled or postponed, including the 2020 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament for baseball, the Japanese Organizing Committee came under great pressure to make a decision. At first, Japanese authorities were adamant that the games would be held as scheduled, stating that a delay was not an option, but reality got the better of that position. The games were originally scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan (though the baseball portion was to be played elsewhere in Japan) starting on July 24, 2020, but like many other sporting competitions around the world, they fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic that swept the planet in the early months of that year. It was the US's first Silver in baseball in the Olympics (they had won Gold and Bronze before) while it was the first team Olympic medal (regardless of sport) for the Dominicans. The host country, Japan, won its first-ever gold medal in the event (they had finished first in 1984, before baseball was a medal event), defeating the United States in the Gold Medal Game on August 7, 2021, with the Dominican Republic winning bronze.
Baseball returned as a medal event in the 2020 Olympics after not being included in 2012 or 2016.
0 kommentar(er)
