Going for gold at home
BRIAN LEWIS, the TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) president, set the wrong tone when he dismissed concerns about the participation of a local contingent in the Tokyo Olympics as little more than negativity and fearmongering.
“Give us a break,” Mr Lewis said on Wednesday at an event to mark 100 days until the games. “Take your fears of covid and deal with it.”
No one gainsays the TTOC president’s passion as an advocate on behalf of athletes. Mr Lewis clearly appreciates the vital role sportspeople play in our society, particularly at a time like this. We need positivity. We need good news. We need to be better united, as our politicians daily remind us. Sport has a way of supplying all this.
But Mr Lewis is too rash in dismissing the fact that his role, and the role of the many talented athletes he represents, is also one of setting an example to the public.
“We are guided by the science,” Mr Lewis declared on Wednesday.
But in the same breath, he defended a decision taken by the Olympic organisers not to make vaccination compulsory. He cited constitutional rights.
But science dictates that the most robust way, at the moment, to stave off infection is a vaccine. If all athletes could be vaccinated, there would be less concern about their welfare and the welfare of those they may come into contact with upon their return.
Given that vaccines are scarce, it is not unreasonable to expect sportspeople to defer participation in international meets until things get better.
The TTOC president, however, is correct to suggest it is possible to stage an international sporting event with controls in place. We have seen many incident-free tournaments, including at least one on our soil.
But it is also true that sometimes there have been lapses. And the sheer scale of the Olympics, which normally involves 14,000 athletes alone, will pose a challenge.
This is more worrying when we consider current fears of a fourth covid19 wave in Japan. Only one per cent of the Japanese population has been vaccinated.
After years of planning, billions in spending, a global pandemic and a one-year postponement, it might be hard for athletes to swallow another cancellation. They have been training for years and many have only a narrow window of time for optimal performance.
But with more people dying from covid19 all over the world, a big international event celebrating athletic achievement might be more than a risk; it might simply appear callous.
Either way, our previous medal-winners and podium hopefuls should be supported. But as we face yet another wave, they too have a role to play in showing herculean forbearance.
The post Going for gold at home appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
Read More
