Last night it was reported by The Times that the Japanese government had privately concluded that the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer would have to be cancelled due to the coronavirus, throwing 2021’s largest sporting event into uncertainty once again.

This report came only hours after IOC President Thomas Bach had told Kyodo News there was ‘No reason whatsoever’ to believe the Games wouldn’t be going ahead as planned.

The IOC have since issued a statement today denying this report, saying it is ‘Categorically untrue’. However, doubts are still persisting and will surely be putting a huge stress on the sponsors, broadcasters and, of course, athletes who are stepping up their preparations.

Michael Pirrie analyses the latest reports and doubts about the future of the Tokyo Games and the worsening impact of the pandemic on world sport. 

The new year has brought a series of familiar but unresolved pandemic challenges that threaten the Covid international sports calendar and its showpieces, including the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The challenges started in the recent countdown to the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam, the first major sporting event of the year, which narrowly escaped the emerging pandemic 12 months ago.

A year on, and the tennis showpiece is struggling with the virus it had previously evaded, heralding another ominous year ahead for international sport.

Dozens of elite tennis players have been placed under strict medical observation in luxury quarantine hotels in the host city of Melbourne, following fears players may have been exposed to the deadly virus while sharing chartered flights with Covid positive passengers travelling from different global hubs en route to the Melbourne event.

“Much of the pandemic-induced uncertainty stems comes from how the Games can be staged with safety and certainty, especially with delayed vaccination programs, roll outs and limited supplies.”

The Tokyo Olympics has been struggling with a much wider Covid outbreak crisis as it enters the vital final months of Games preparations in what will be a pivotal year for the IOC and the Olympic Movement’s flagship event.

Just a few weeks into the new year and the nations that will host the next two editions of the Games are also in the vice-like grip of the pandemic as Covid spreads in Japan and China. This is creating deep uncertainty over prospects and options for the Games. 

The much wider but equally urgent task for the IOC and its stakeholders is to determine where the Olympics fit in the rapidly changing circumstances of global society brought on by the pandemic.

In addition to the global economic meltdown wrought by Covid, escalating poverty; mounting social, political and climate unrest; declining living standards; and rising national debt and security fears also shroud the future of the Olympic Games in uncertainty.

Much of the pandemic-induced uncertainty stems comes from how the Games can be staged with safety and certainty, especially with delayed vaccination programs, roll outs and limited supplies. All have been fuelling doubts over the Tokyo Games.

But the Tokyo Olympics is not the only major event grappling with the pandemic but it is the world’s sporting showpiece.

Several events planned for 2021 have already been rescheduled or cancelled to avoid chaos, confusion and possible outbreaks of infection, disease and death. These include the curtain raiser for the Formula 1 season, the Australian Grand Prix, and the Glastonbury Music Festival, the world’s biggest music event.

Meanwhile, with London in deep despair and suffering daily new records in Covid deaths, the EURO 2020-21 football finals scheduled for Wembley – the second biggest sporting event of the year behind the Tokyo Olympics – may be relocated to Russia despite concerns about the real severity of the pandemic and efficacy of its vaccines.

The Tokyo Olympics dwarfs all these events in scale and complexity many times over. Fresh doubts about the Tokyo Games started to emerge in the new year when a  state of Covid emergency was declared in the Olympic host city and other prefectures.

These doubts have included a lack of information about anti-Covid measures while Olympic officials worked painstakingly to adjust Games-time operations for venues, support services and facilities in line with latest data on the pandemic.

Tokyo organisers have struggled to find a circuit breaker to change the Games narrative. The sudden emergence of a new and highly infectious strain raised fears the virus could ‘float through walls’ and jolted confidence further.

While Japan’s former Abe Government invested much pride and financial support in the Tokyo Games as a project of national and international importance and prestige, plunging popularity polls have also raised doubts about the Games.

This has led to media reports indicating internal government support for the Games may be waning, despite continued public statements of assurance from new Prime Minister Suga that the Games will go ahead.

“Together with its Japanese Partners and friends, the IOC is fully concentrated on and committed to the successful delivery of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 this year.” – Part of today’s IOC statement.

Responding firmly to the latest media reports questioning the viability of the Games, IOC President Thomas Bach said: “We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the July 23 in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.”

With hundreds of Covid victims dying every hour in some of the worst hit countries, the future of the Games will depend on the state of the global pandemic and whether Japan can curb the current outbreaks before the Games.

Growing concerns within the international community about proceeding with the Games in the worsening pandemic must also be addressed and resolved as soon as possible.

Especially amongst athlete groups, whose mounting fears about the safety of the Games at the start of the pandemic helped to bring forward the decision to postpone the Tokyo Games in late March.

Influential United States Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps is one of a number of former Olympic gold medallists who have expressed deep concern about the Games, along with British Olympic rowing icon, Sir Matthew Pinsent.

The rising death tolls have placed the international community and Olympic nations on high alert.

Sir Keith Mills, one of the UK’s and world’s most respected and successful international sports marketing and event planning figures doubts the Tokyo Games can go ahead in the current circumstances.

“Personally, sitting here, looking at the pandemic around the world, in South America, North America, Africa and Europe, it looks unlikely,” according to Mills, who played a seminal role in helping to bring the Olympic Games to London in 2012, along with his close friend, Seb Coe.

Much could be riding on the success of planning for the Australian Open tennis next month, the first major sports event of the year and a microcosm of issues confronting international sport in 2021 and beyond.

Tennis organisers have promised the strictest biosecurity and safest sporting event since the onset of pandemic. World sport’s governing bodies and international federations and host cities hope the Grand Slam could provide new biosecurity model that other elite events could follow.

“The AO preparations have so far however demonstrated how easily the virus can exploit any gaps in biosecurity surrounding international travel, the cornerstone of world sport.”

The AO preparations have so far however demonstrated how easily the virus can exploit any gaps in biosecurity surrounding international travel, the cornerstone of world sport.

This is not good news for the world’s biggest sporting events such as the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and FIFA Football World and Continental cups, which depend on highly complex international travel operations and arrangements.

While international travel and major events have facilitated the global spread of the virus, debate over the safety of such events has intensified in recent weeks as the pandemic continues to stalk the world and its showpiece fixtures.

New research pointing to the risks of inflight transmission of the virus has also placed the future of major events including Tokyo up in the air.

Michael Pirrie is an international communications and commentator on world sport and major events. He was Executive Adviser to London 2012 Olympic Games Committee chair, Seb Coe, and worked with Sir Keith Mills on the UK’s successful bid for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.  

Over the past year, as the coronavirus pandemic has spread across the planet, many people have been forced to adapt their ways of life from traditions that had long stood, whether that be working from home or lifestyles changes, such as the restriction on physical activity and closures of gyms.

To take a closer look at the second of these effects, MATTA are releasing their latest survey, dedicated to how the fitness habits of the general public have been altered. Matt Hunt, co-Founder of MATTA, tells us more in his insights piece for iSportConnect.

As we navigate one of the trickiest phases throughout this global pandemic to-date – and combine the “final chapter” of the pandemic with the annual January blues. It would be  hard to not look back on 2020, the year that flipped our lives – our economy – and our fitness habits – forever. The fitness industry was forced adapted to life in lockdown and, with that it mind, it is only right we start to assess how it has transformed and the shifts in consumer behaviour. And that is why I believe it is timely to be releasing the MATTA survey, Work our or Work In: Witness the Fitness in a Post-Pandemic Age.  

The sentence “I have felt quite unsettled throughout COVID — going for runs has helped clear my head and feel less out of control” is a sentence that could resonate with so many of us it seems, that is if we are to read and digest the MATTA survey. This sentence was just one response from our revealing survey on consumer behaviours concerning fitness as we emerge from Covid-19, and one that could explain how so many of us feel following  the strangest, most testing of years.  

“The survey shows the pandemic has been a catalyst in the public’s recognition of exercise to mental health: the number one reason people gave for exercising was to ensure positive mental wellbeing.”

It is beyond question that many industries have been affected by Covid, but few in my view have been as affected as the $6 billion fitness sector, which is fast appearing to be a different version of itself from that of 12 months ago; and what makes this so interesting, is this is a sector that directly affects public in its everyday life. This belief that the fitness industry has been transformed is backed up by the headline out take of this survey: 82% of  people admitted to having changed their exercise habits as a result of Covid-19 and 37% claim to be more active.  

Interestingly, what the survey shows is that the pandemic has been a catalyst in the public’s recognition of exercise to mental health: the number one reason people gave for exercising was to not to lose weight, get fitter, but to ensure positive mental wellbeing, whether it be increasing their confidence, improving their sleep, putting them in a better mood or  reducing their anxiety. This is in stark contrast to recent history; take, for example, a 2010 study, when muscle building and losing weight were the respondents’ main drivers for exercise.  

Of course, one of the most direct impacts of a transformed fitness industry will be the gyms. As the survey proves, Covid-19 changes everything for the gym industry. And so, it is recommend that as we emerge from the pandemic, gyms should display not only greater flexibility in their services and package offering, but should pivot to more mental wellbeing focussed messaging when speaking to their consumers.

The survey demonstrates that, unsurprisingly, consumers have safety concerns about returning to gyms, social distancing, sanitisation and ventilation are all key safety enablers. However more needs to be done to restore consumer confidence and prove to doubtful consumers gyms are fit for purpose once again, especially now that new fitness habits have formed.  

One of the highlights of this enlightening survey – and one of the greatest threats to gyms themselves – is that people are now bringing the gym to their homes. People are investing in home gym equipment more, as evidenced by the fact that brands such as Peloton have grown by 350% during the pandemic. Home gym equipment sales overall soared by a huge 5813% between the date the UK went into its first lockdown on 23 March and July – interestingly, trainers were the most purchased item of all. Then, there’s other signs of this consumer exercise shift, with brands such as Apple launching their new watch-powered  fitness experience, Apple Fitness Plus, bringing world class workouts by the top trainers to people in their homes.  

37% – The amount of people who claim to be fitter after the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite these challenges, however, our survey makes it clear there is a way out for gyms that display the right flexibility, agility and become more consumer-focussed. The name of the game for exercise companies will be a new, hybrid physical-virtual business model, the type which companies such as Barry’s and Virgin Active have already adopted. In doing so, they have proven to be ready to rise to the challenge. In 2021, and in the years to follow, gyms will need to offer more flexible memberships to cater to an increasingly demanding, and all-powerful, consumer. As our survey shows, tailored membership packages that offer consumers a number of visits per month will be one of the ways to go; and, even as restrictions are eased, gyms will need to provide the right blend of physical-virtual offerings in a more safety-conscious post-pandemic world.  

MATTA was set up five years ago precisely because we believed that sport, fitness and wellbeing matter, which, when combined, unequivocally promote happier and healthier lives. With the onset of Covid-19 this past year, it is clear that this sentiment, this healthy trio, is gaining traction amongst a mainstream audience, who, in large numbers, are realising the importance of overall wellbeing in their lives. The direction of travel surely  presents massive opportunities for those that can capitalise on the seismic shift in consumer behaviour that we’re now witnessing – much of which will inevitably be here to stay,  as people across the UK and worldwide start to reap the healthy benefits of their own new  normal. If you would like to receive a complimentary copy of the Work Out or Work In report, then  please email: insight@makeitmatta.com