{"id":424808,"date":"2020-03-27T19:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T02:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=424808"},"modified":"2020-03-28T08:21:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T15:21:04","slug":"the-tokyo-postponement-in-perspective-what-has-and-hasnt-stopped-the-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-tokyo-postponement-in-perspective-what-has-and-hasnt-stopped-the-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tokyo Postponement in Perspective: What Has (and Hasn&#8217;t) Stopped the Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><em>Olympic Perspective from the Past for the Present generation coming\u00a0to terms with a shift from Tokyo 2020 to 2021 that offers hope not finality<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>This weekend, Swimming World is trawling back in history to find some of the stories of the past that contribute to our series in search of perspective for the present season of social-distancing, closures that stretch to pools, cancellations and postponements that have turned the sporting seascape and landscape into a desert.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olympic-perspective-the-heights-of-hveger-never-seen-other-careers-lost-to-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Olympic Perspective: The Heights Of Hveger Never Seen &amp; Other Careers Lost To War<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olympic-perspective-alfred-nakache-the-swimmer-of-auschwitz-what-it-means-to-overcome\/\">Olympic Perspective: Alfred Nakache, The \u201cSwimmer of Auschwitz\u201d &amp; What It Means To Overcome<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This week\u2019s news of an Olympic postponement rippled across the world, not just for its symbolism in the coronavirus pandemic but for its sheer unprecedented nature. The Olympic Movement has weathered boycotts and world wars. It has navigated (often unsuccessfully but still without pause) such international catastrophes as Apartheid and the Nazi regime, plus dozens of civil wars and the full gamut of conflicts and chaos.<\/p>\n<p>The COVID-19 outbreak\u2019s ability to knock the Olympics out of commission until 2021 is a testament to the virus\u2019s threat to humanity and the gravity of the public-health situation across the globe. It\u2019s only the fourth time in 14 decades of the modern Olympics that the Games have been postponed or cancelled. It\u2019s notable to look at not just what has caused Olympic postponements before, but what massive events haven\u2019t moved the Games in the way that coronavirus has, to appreciate the enormity of the moment.<\/p>\n<h3>The cancellations: 1916, 1940, 1944<\/h3>\n<p>The 2020 Tokyo Games falls in line <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/bca94408dbff74cb1357af76b3ee235a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">with these three for the ignominy<\/a> of not going on as scheduled. This installment stands alone for, 1) not requiring a World War, and 2) having the possibility of continuing at a later date. But the IOC\u2019s pattern of handling such decisions remains applicable.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>1916 Games<\/strong> were supposed to be held in Berlin, but the outbreak of World War I made that impossible. There were mooted discussions in 1915 about moving the Games to the United States, which didn\u2019t enter the war until April 1917. Even then, the notion of nations engaged in war with each other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1915\/03\/13\/archives\/no-games-until-war-ends-but-no-definite-decision-has-been-reached.html?searchResultPosition=21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">competing together was far-fetched<\/a>, and the overwhelming majority of Olympic nations and power was housed on a European continent riven by war. All Olympic meetings were suspended from 1915-18, making the 1916 cancellation little more than a formality.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>1940 Games<\/strong> present a prescient parallel to the IOC operations of the present. Despite Europe again exploding into war, the Games were officially on until April 1940, what the Associated Press then called, \u201ca football for the world\u2019s war lords for three years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision to cancel was shockingly delayed in retrospect. The 1940 Games were awarded in 1936 to Japan. They were touted as the first Eastern Olympics, but there was immediate buyer\u2019s remorse after seeing how the Nazi regime politicized the 1936 Berlin Games and the increasing imperialism of Japan, which invaded China in 1937. By the following summer, citing a scarcity of resources in a war effort, a growing movement to boycott the Games from the West and a retraction from the global stage, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/history\/2020\/03\/24\/1940-tokyo-olympics-postponed-coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Japan relinquished the Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hosting duties went to Helsinki. But when Germany invaded Poland and the Soviet Union invaded Finland in the fall of 1939, those Games were doomed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/1940-Tokyo-Games-Olympics-Movement\/dp\/041549561X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">to become a Missing Olympics<\/a>. (There\u2019s an interesting theory <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2020\/mar\/19\/thats-a-fact-olympics-are-cursed-says-japans-deputy-prime-minister\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">about a 40-year curse in the Olympics<\/a>, from the 1940 Tokyo Games to the 1980 Moscow Games that the U.S. and many western nations boycotted to the 2020 Tokyo Games. Buckle up for the 2060 Mars Games?)<\/p>\n<p>The IOC, though, continued to try to operate as normal. In 1939, it awarded the <strong>1944 Games<\/strong> to London. Such was the ensuing battle and cost of lives to all of Europe that a 1944 cancellation hardly needed to be announced.<\/p>\n<h3>The Games that went on: 1968, 1972 and 1996<\/h3>\n<p>Many Olympic watchers waited weeks to see how the IOC would react to coronavirus. And compared to historical perspectives, this year\u2019s actions to postpone were relatively swift and decisive. Often in face of past crises, the IOC has opted to barrel forward.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_393670\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-393670\" data-attachment-id=\"393670\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mark-spitz-back-in-the-swim-arena-as-brand-ambassador-46-years-on\/mark-spitz-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/markspitz2-e1589133442845.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1100,714\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Getty Images&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;19th April 1978:  Mark Spitz who won seven gold medals for swimming in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.  (Photo by Graham Morris\\\/Evening Standard\\\/Getty Images)&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;261792000&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mark Spitz&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Mark Spitz\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;used 10.1919&lt;br \/&gt;\n19th April 1978: Mark Spitz who won seven gold medals for swimming in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. (Photo by Graham Morris\/Evening Standard\/Getty Images) black &#038; white;format landscape;male;facial hair;Sport;Personalit&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Mark Spitz as an Arena ambassador the first time round &#8211;  Photo Courtesy: by Graham Morris\/Evening Standard via Getty Images, courtesy of arena &lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/markspitz2-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/markspitz2-1024x665.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-393670\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/markspitz2-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"19th April 1978: Mark Spitz who won seven gold medals for swimming in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. (Photo by Graham Morris\/Evening Standard\/Getty Images)\" width=\"400\" height=\"260\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-393670\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark Spitz as an Arena ambassador the first time round &#8211; Photo Courtesy: by Graham Morris\/Evening Standard via Getty Images, courtesy of arena<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The biggest black eye for the Olympic Movement since World War II, even more than Cold War boycotts of 1980 and 1984, was the <strong>1972 Munich<\/strong> terrorist attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. Orchestrated by the Black September Organization, a Palestinian terrorist group, the attack also killed a West German police officer and left five terrorists dead.<\/p>\n<p>It delayed the Olympics for about a day, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1972\/09\/06\/archives\/games-suspended-rites-in-arena-set-halt-is-the-first-since-1896.html?searchResultPosition=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">even that was deemed monumental<\/a>. Events continued even as the standoff with the terrorists, who had broken into the Olympic village to capture hostages, raged. The attack began in the wee hours of Sept. 5. By the evening of Sept. 6, after 80,000 people gathered in the Olympic Stadium for a public mourning, the Games continued, as decreed by <strong>Avery Brundage<\/strong>, the 84-year-old outgoing IOC president.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Olympic peace was broken by a murderous attack by criminal terrorists,\u201d read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1972\/09\/07\/archives\/despicable-act-decried-at-arena-rites-despicable-act-is-decried-at.html?searchResultPosition=4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an IOC statement<\/a>. \u201cThe entire civilized world condemns this barbaric act with disgust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What remained of the second week of competition was diminished. <strong>Mark Spitz,<\/strong> who\u2019d won seven gold medals in the Games\u2019 first week, fled Germany, fearing that his Jewish heritage <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/mark-spitz-munich-massacre_n_57991582e4b01180b5317199\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">would make him a target<\/a>. Members of the Norwegian and Dutch delegations withdrew from the Games, as did the entire Egyptian and Syrian squads.<\/p>\n<p>Terrorism blighted the <strong>1996 Games<\/strong> in Atlanta with the bombing at Centennial Olympic Park. A pipe bomb went off just after 1 a.m. outside a concert venue July 27, killing one person and injuring more than 100 (a cameraman also died of a heart attack on the scene).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_334230\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-334230\" data-attachment-id=\"334230\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/50-year-lookback-of-1968-mexico-city-olympics-kaye-hall-sharon-wichman-score-upsets-for-team-usa-on-day-seven\/mike-burton-mexico-city-olympics-no-credit\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1972,1332\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"mike-burton-mexico-city-1968\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;3-27-20&lt;br \/&gt;\nmike-burton-mexico-city-1968&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Mike Burton and others swam on at the 1968 Games. Photo Courtesy: Swimming World Archive&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184-1024x692.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-334230\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"mike-burton\" width=\"400\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184-533x360.jpg 533w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184-280x189.jpg 280w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184-1024x692.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184-150x101.jpg 150w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184-500x338.jpg 500w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mike-Burton-Mexico-City-Olympics-no-credit--e1540244467184.jpg 1972w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-334230\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Burton and others swam on at the 1968 Games. Photo Courtesy: Swimming World Archive<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The bombing was condemned in the harshest of terms by American president <strong>Bill Clinton<\/strong>, realizing the country\u2019s fears in what was called, \u201cthe largest peacetime security operation for a public event in American history.\u201d But after consultation with his cabinet and Congress, the Games <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1996\/07\/28\/us\/bomb-olympics-response-clinton-says-olympics-will-not-bow-terrorism.html?searchResultPosition=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">continued with minimal interruptions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Both of those Games were underway by the time terror intruded. But the <strong>1968 Games<\/strong> were a different story. And as utterly unprecedented as the current situation is, the circumstances in Mexico City present parallels. Consider these headlines, from the <em>New York Times<\/em>, ahead of the Oct. 12 opening ceremonies:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sept. 23: HUNDREDS SEIZED IN MEXICO CLASHES; One Killed and Dozens Hurt During a Night of Fighting by Students and Police Students and Police Clash Throughout Mexico City<\/li>\n<li>Sept. 24: 40 Are Wounded in Mexico City As Police Clash With Students<\/li>\n<li>Sept. 25: Students Fight the Police Through the Night 3 Are Killed and Many Injured in Mexico City Battle<\/li>\n<li>Sept. 26: Mexico City Death Toll Increases in Continuing Student Clashes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The student demonstrations came to a head Oct. 4, a story that warranted Page 1 treatment by the Times: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1968\/10\/04\/archives\/deaths-put-at-49-in-mexican-clash-500-wounded-after-troops-fire-on.html?searchResultPosition=17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deaths Put at 49 in Mexican Clash; 500 wounded after troops fire on students at rally \u2013 1,500 taken prisoner<\/a>.\u201d What was then known as <em>La Noche Triste<\/em> (the Night of Sorrows) involved hundreds of students being fired upon by soldiers in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. No official death toll <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=97546687\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">has ever been tallied from the Tlatelolco Massacre<\/a>. It was the culmination of a summer of protests by students, leading to skirmishes with police and the government seizing arms.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the way <a href=\"https:\/\/timesmachine.nytimes.com\/timesmachine\/1968\/10\/06\/102304927.html?pageNumber=310\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the New York Times<\/a>, in a stunning series of rhetorical hairpin bends, navigated it:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cThe atmosphere has grown particularly threatening since Wednesday night, when the conflict again exploded into a violent gun battle in which at least 30 people were killed. But despite the tension, the Olympics still seem to have the wholehearted support of most people, and visitors will find them friendly and eager to please. And most of the city looks festive, even if some of its citizens do not feel festive, and some of its sections still show the signs of battle.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The IOC, though, never wavered on its commitment to Mexico City. Like the 1940 Games, this was seen as a pioneering one, the first Olympics in the global south. So Brundage brushed the ideas off as \u201cstudent manifestations,\u201d even as the death toll climbed.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, it\u2019s taken the IOC weeks to weigh its decision, trying to balance the billions of investment from Tokyo in the Games with the needs of athletes and spectators the world over. But in ignoring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ioc-president-bach-still-four-months-to-go-but-we-will-act-in-the-interests-of-the-athletes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">its original four-week timeline<\/a> and deciding more quickly, the IOC of today may end up in better standing than its predecessors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Olympic Perspective from the Past for the Present generation coming\u00a0to terms with a shift from Tokyo 2020 to 2021 that offers hope not finality This weekend, Swimming World is trawling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8367,"featured_media":219110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122087,7,10],"tags":[122325,122324,37804,122326,122327,58663,34385,122266,10699,616,122328,7419],"class_list":["post-424808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-coronavirus","category-usa","category-world","tag-1916-olympics","tag-1940-olympics","tag-1944-olympics","tag-1968-olympics","tag-1972-olympics","tag-2020-olympics","tag-2020-tokyo-olympic-games","tag-2021-olympics","tag-avery-brundage","tag-mark-spitz","tag-munich-massacre","tag-tokyo-olympics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Tokyo Postponement in Perspective: What Has (or Hasn&#039;t) Halted Olympics<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week\u2019s news of Olympic postponement rippled across the world, not just for its symbolism in the coronavirus pandemic but for its unprecedented nature.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-tokyo-postponement-in-perspective-what-has-and-hasnt-stopped-the-olympics\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Tokyo Postponement in Perspective: What Has (and Hasn&#039;t) Stopped the Olympics\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" 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