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Our Tokyo Trail series looks at key issues surrounding the 2020 Olympics, which are scheduled for late July.
Fadel Bahrain, 19, has a pithy description for the Olympic Games: “highly irrelevant”. In his eyes, the quadrennial sporting event that many regard as the pinnacle of national glory and a celebration of human spirit has fallen far behind the likes of video games and YouTube videos in the popularity stakes.
“I’m not excited about the Olympics as I lack interest in sports in general,” said the English literature student at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Others of a similar age feel a similar way. Francis Huang Shao-hsuan, 25, a furniture designer from Taiwan, said the Games were mostly good for small talk on lunch breaks.
And Crystal Pang Wing-sze, 25, who works in communications at a Hong Kong university, said: “There’s a feeling of it not having anything to do with me.” 


It’s clear the Olympics has a young-people problem – and analysts say the mode of delivering sports programmes to them needs to change.
“Younger people aren’t losing interest in sports. In fact, engagement has never been higher,” said Michael Neuman, the managing partner of Scout Sports and Entertainment, a division of US marketing consultancy Horizon Media.
“[The issue is that] linear, ‘watch-what-we-show-you’ broadcast experiences are becoming less compelling for younger audiences who want to migrate to other platforms where they are in more control of highlights, access, information and stats.”
The television audience in the United States – the largest market for Olympics broadcasting in terms of revenue – has aged quicker than the overall population.
Why esports and the Olympics still have a complicated relationship
The median age of American viewers for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro was 52.4, higher than 49.5 years for the 2012 edition in London and 45.5 for Sydney 2000, according to marketing industry publication Ad Age.
While viewership data for Asia was not readily available, Dr Juanita Cheung Sin-ting from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) said young people in the region who did not regularly play sports were even less interested in sporting events than their European and North American counterparts.
“People in Western countries might need to rely on sports events to expand their social network and make friends,” said the senior lecturer at the university’s education faculty, who specialises in sports motivation.
“Having a sports event that everyone can talk about unites people. The lively atmosphere that comes with watching sports can make them feel less lonely.”
By contrast, Cheung said, people in Asia spent more time with their families and did not need to rely on watching sports events to make friends. She added that parents also prioritised academic achievements over sports in some parts of the region, which held back a sports culture from flourishing.

To the International Olympic Committee (IOC), this is a crisis. Seventy-three per cent of its global revenue of US$5.7 billion in the most recent Olympic cycle, from 2013 to 2016, came from television broadcasting rights.
While young people are not currently the audience with spending power, they are the ones poised to take over – and yet they have no interest in watching sports, said Dr Lobo Louie Hung-tak, an associate professor at Baptist University’s sport, physical education and health department.
Although this economic factor was the primary driver behind the IOC’s interest in appealing to young people, he said, the organisation was also concerned about the legacy of Olympism – the philosophy of the Games, which promotes sports as a key to a balanced lifestyle and harmonious human development.
Neuman, the managing partner of Scout Sports and Entertainment, said as the Games had come off a series of scandals in the past 20 years – these include state-sponsored doping, hosting countries’ human rights records and transparency in governance – it was the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020 that was meant “to reinstate the Olympics to all its glamour while leaving behind an evergreen legacy in host countries”.
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The agenda – a set of recommendations to strengthen the role of sport in society – addresses a range of issues facing the Olympics, including youth engagement. “The only way to grow tomorrow’s viewership and interest is to cultivate relationships with today’s younger generation of sports fans,” Neuman said.
But media consumption does not reveal the full extent of the lack of interest in the Olympics and, more generally, sports.
Louie from Baptist University said the physical fitness of young people was declining worldwide because of a more sedentary lifestyle with the rise of electronic media, even in countries with a strong sporting culture such as Australia, Canada and the US.




“With a weaker physical ability, a young person’s appreciation for and interest in sports will also decrease,” he said, stressing that this was one of many factors that had led to younger people watching fewer sports events.
Eighty-one per cent of students aged 11 to 17 globally were not exercising enough, according to a 2019 study funded by the World Health Organization that was published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal.
A review published last year in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics showed that the strength and endurance of children and adolescents had constantly declined in recent decades. The review of 19 studies covering the period from 1969 to 2017 had a combined sample size of 1.7 million children from 14 countries, including China, Sweden, Mozambique and Canada.
Part of the problem with the disinterest in sports, Cheung of CUHK said, was that sports federations tended to focus on young elite athletes rather than developing all children’s interest in sports.
Tokyo Olympics: between Covid-19 and financial worries, Japan weighs the cost of allowing spectators in stadiums
The IOC agrees. Its president, Thomas Bach, said in 2014: “As a sports organisation we cannot be satisfied only with increasing numbers of young people watching the Olympic Games. We have an interest and a responsibility to get the couch potatoes off the couch.”
The group and its media partners have resorted to innovative ways to win the hearts and minds of Generation Z and young millennials.
Freestyle BMX, surfing, sport climbing, 3×3 basketball and skateboarding will make their summer Olympic debuts in Tokyo this year, while breakdancing will become an Olympic sport for Paris 2024.
“By including extreme sports in the Olympics, young people who weren’t interested in sports might also [tune in],” said Haruka Matsumoto, a 23-year-old fan club recruiter for a baseball team in Japan.


The IOC has also made a deliberate effort to turn to social media platforms popular with young users – such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram – to promote the Olympics.
The IOC did not directly respond to queries about how successful its foray into these social media platforms would be, but said via email: “During its first year of activity, the @Olympics handle on TikTok attracted a very engaged and youthful community of over 1 million followers. On Snapchat, since July 2020, our content has achieved more than 200 million video views.”
Official broadcasters have also recognised that television is becoming less relevant. China Media Group, the state-owned company that operates CCTV, has sublicensed Olympics content to video-sharing and live-streaming app Kuaishou, which had an average of 305 million daily active users in China from January to September last year.
In the US, NBC partnered with video game live-streaming platform Twitch to create interactive content, such as a stream of the Olympic torch relay in which viewers need to collect items and work together in the chat to “light the cauldron”.
But the most potentially influential move in the bid to get young people to watch the Olympics is the addition of video games to the roster – even though this is a long road that is still years away from its destination. 
Esports were featured as a demonstration event in the 2018 Asian Games, an IOC-recognised competition. Two years later, the IOC supported a tournament for real-time strategy game StarCraft II and winter sports simulation game Steep that ran parallel to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
In 2024, at the Paris Games, esports will be an Olympic demonstration event for the first time, but for Tokyo this year, the IOC has organised an “Olympic Virtual Series”.

This consists of competitions in four existing video games – emulating baseball, cycling, sailing and motor-racing – that have been reskinned with Olympic colours, along with a rowing event that will see competitors use a rowing machine.
The Olympics has been slow to adopt esports because of concerns over game violence, as IOC president Bach outlined in March: “Any game where there is violence glorified or accepted, where you have any kind of discrimination, they have nothing to do with the Olympic values.”
This rules out some of the most popular games on distribution platform Steam, including the likes of Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2. On top of this, Cheung from CUHK questions whether the IOC can actually encourage gamers to become athletes.
While more research is needed, she said, Hong Kong’s “electronic PE classes” – during which schoolchildren play on motion-sensing gaming consoles on rainy days – showed that gaming did not translate into physical exercise.
Though the Olympics was not at risk of becoming irrelevant because of the revenue it generated, an accelerated cultural shift meant the IOC had to introduce initiatives to win over young people, Louie from Baptist University said.
“They have to understand what young people love,” he said. “If you clearly know the culture is changing quicker than before and choose not to act, you’ll be criticised.”


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The Olympics has a young-people problem. Illustration: Joe Lo

The IOC views the Olympics’ ageing television audience as a crisis. Photo: AP

 IOC has also made a deliberate effort to turn to social media platforms popular with young users, such as TikTok. Photo: AP

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Japan’s tourism-reliant businesses that invested heavily on the promise of an Olympics-inspired boom have been left counting the cost. Image: SCMP

epa09182332 A photo made available on 07 May 2021 shows a Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. airplane is to land on the tarmac at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda in Tokyo, Japan, 06 May 2021. Japan Airlines (JAL) announced on 07 May 2021 that its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ended March 2021 had a net loss of 286.6 billion yen (about 2.7 billion US dollar). JAL said in the financial report that this fiscal year (April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021) was an extremely tough year for an airline industry including the JAL Group due to the spread of COVID-19. EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Elderly people wait after receiving coronavirus vaccine shots at a newly opened vaccination center in Kobe, western Japan, on May 25, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Members of the Japanese delegation to the International Olympic Committee celebrate in 2013 after Tokyo won its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Photo: AFP

Why esports and the Olympics still have a complicated relationship

The Indonesian esports team competes in an exhibition at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Photo: AFP

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Thousands of Covid-19 and doping tests will be carried out at the Tokyo Olympics. Credit: Joe Lo

FILE - In this May 24, 2016 file photo employees work in Russia's national drug-testing laboratory in Moscow. Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, the whistleblower who exposed Russia's doping corruption at the Sochi Olympics added to a chorus of protest over the possible reinstatement of the country's anti-doping agency. In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Grigory Rodchenkov portrayed the World Anti-Doping Agency's shifting of its requirements to end RUSADA's suspension as a result of Russia's unwillingness to accept findings from investigator Richard McLaren, who detailed a government-sponsored doping program designed to win medals. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Workers place the overlay on the wall of the National Stadium, where opening ceremony and many other events are scheduled for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Wednesday, June 2, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2016, file photo, Sergei Tetiukhin carries the flag of Russia during the opening ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The World Anti-Doping Agency declared Russia's scandal-ridden drug-fighting operation back in business Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018, a decision designed to bring a close to one of sports' most notorious doping scandals but one bitterly disputed by hundreds of athletes and described as "treachery" by the lawyer for the man who exposed the corruption. It also clears a major hurdle for Russia's track team to be declared compliant by that sport's international governing body (IAAF).(AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Gold medalist Guo Wenjun of China (C), silver medalist Natalia Paderina of Russia (L) and bronze medalist Nino Salukvadeze of Georgia celebrate on the podium of the women's 10m Air Pistol at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 10, 2008 at Beijing Shooting Hall. Georgia's Nino Salukvadze third place finish came just hours after the entire Georgian squad had considered withdrawing from the Games in protest at Russia's role in the bloody conflict over South Ossetia.AFP PHOTO/ISSOUF SANOGO

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Tokyo Trail: key issues surrounding the 2020 Olympics

Tokyo Olympics: from robots to self-driving cars, Japan’s tech prowess is on display at the Games

The Olympics is a chance for Japan to showcase cutting-edge robotics, automation and computing. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this June 28, 2021, file photo, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, center, stands by a remotely-controlled guide robot at Haneda international airport in Tokyo. The pressure of hosting an Olympics during a still-active pandemic is beginning to show in Japan. Amid the criticism, Suga went to Tokyo’s Haneda international airport June 28 to inspect virus testing for arrivals. He vowed to ensure appropriate border controls as a growing number of Olympic and Paralympic athletes, officials and media begin entering Japan for the games.(Kyodo News via AP, File)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 20, 2021, autonomous electric vehicles, which will be used at the Olympic Village, are seen during a media tour of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Village in Tokyo. - For athletes competing at the Tokyo Games, the Olympic Village will be almost all they see, with strict coronavirus rules preventing them from leaving the compound except to train and compete. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP) / TO GO WITH Oly-2020-2021-Japan-health-virus-Village,FOCUS by Etienne Balmer

CORRECTION - Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games' mascot and robot-type mascot Miraitowa attend a ceremony at Hoyonomori elementary school in Tokyo on November 18, 2019. - Tokyo 2020 Summer Games' mascot robots visited an elementary school, drawing cheers and laughters from children as they gave them quizzes and responded to verbal instructions. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP) / "The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Behrouz MEHRI has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [Miraitowa] instead of [Miraito]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prom

A security camera operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department hoisted in a balloon is seen over Tokyo Waterfront City area ahead of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, July 19, 2021. REUTERS/Naoki Ogura

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Yiannis Exarchos, the chief executive of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), says the aim is to make people believe they are almost within touching distance of the action. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze trains in the wind tunnel at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Athletes are using a number of different technologies to improve their performances. Photo: Handout

Melkeneh Azeze (L), a 1500 m athlete, Getenet Wale (2nd L), a 5000 m athlete, Abreham Sime (C), a 3000 meters athlete, and Hailemariam Amare (R) a 3000 m athlete, runs during training in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 8, 2021, ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games in Japan starting later this month. (Photo by Amanuel Sileshi / AFP)

FILE PHOTO: Athletics - Dubai Marathon - Dubai, United Arab Emirates - January 24, 2020 General view of an athlete holding Nike Vaporfly shoes after the race REUTERS/Christopher Pike/File Photo

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A tourist ship cruises past the Olympic Village buildings in Tokyo, where the first Covid-19 case was detected on Saturday. Photo: EPA

(FILES) This file photo taken on June 20, 2021 shows a view of the main dining hall of the Olympic Village during a media tour of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Village in Tokyo. - Even under ordinary circumstances, feeding an Olympic Village is a mammoth task, with chefs preparing tens of thousands of meals a day for elite athletes from around the world, but at Tokyo 2020, there's an added pressure: strict virus rules forbid athletes from eating at local restaurants. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP) / TO GO WITH Oly-2020-2021-Japan-virus-health-food,FOCUS by Natsuko Fukue

A Tokyo Metropolitan Government employee takes the Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine shot at a newly opened vaccination center at the local government building, Thursday, July 1, 2021, in Tokyo. The pressure of hosting an Olympics during a still-active pandemic is beginning to show in Japan. While Japan has made remarkable progress to vaccinate its population against COVID-19, the drive is losing steam because of supply shortages.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

epaselect epa09332739 Demonstrators protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympics outside the venue of the unveiling ceremony for the Olympic Flame of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay at the Komazawa Olympic Park General Sports Ground in Tokyo, Japan, 09 July 2021. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay finally arrived in Tokyo on 09 July, two weeks before the opening of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which was delayed for one year due to the COVID-19 and Coronavirus pandemic. A five-party meeting decided on 08 July 2021 Tokyo venues for the Summer Games will be held without spectators. EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Shutterstock Royalty-free stock photo ID: 1859866627 Doctor man holding a syringe with Coronavirus vaccine in his hands. Covid-19 Vaccination shutterstock

Windsurfer Hayley Chan Hei-man (second from left) and teammate Michael Cheng Chun-leung (centre) at the airport before leaving for Tokyo. They are accompanied by coach Cheng Kwok-fai (1st left), head coach Chan King-yin and physiotherapist Au Yee-hang. 13JUL21 Photo: Chan Kin-wa

Members of the Uganda Olympics team pose for a photo call as they arrive at a hotel in Izumisano city, Osaka Prefecture on June 20, 2021. (Photo by STR / JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT

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Illustration: Joe Lo

Denmark's Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen smiles after winning the gold medal in the men's singles badminton competition at the Centennial Summer Olympics, in Atlanta, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 1996. Hoyer-Larsen broke into an Asian monopoly by defeating China's Dong Jiong 15-12, 15-10. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)

epa06349446 Chen Long of China , (L), shakes hands with Anders Antonsen of Denmark, (R), during the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open in Hong Kong, China, 25 November 2017. The Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open runs from 21 to 26 November. EPA-EFE/JEROME FAVRE

epa08943185 Carolina Marin of Spain reacts after defeating Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying in the women's singles final match to win the BWF Yonex Thailand Open badminton tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, 17 January 2021. EPA-EFE/BADMINTON ASSOCIATION OF THAILAND / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Tokyo Olympics: why are there more female than male athletes from Hong Kong for the second Games in a row?

Hong Kong track cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze is a medal hope in Tokyo. Photo: Cycling Association of Hong Kong

Girls 4x100 LC Meter Medley Relay Hong Kong Team with Siobhan Bernadette Haughey, at the 2021 Hong Kong Age Group Long Course Swimming Competition Division 1, held at Victoria Park Swimming Pool. 30MAY21 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai competes in Cali, Colombia for the World Cup series

Hong Kong's Individual Senior Female Kata winner Grace Lau Mo-sheung aims at her third gold medal in the East Asian Karate Championships at Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai. 11MAY19 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Tokyo Olympics: Hmong-American gymnast Sunisa Lee makes history after pushing superstar Simone Biles at trials

Sunisa Lee in action on the uneven bars during the US Olympic trials. Photo: AFP

Sunisa Lee competes on the beam during the women's U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials Sunday, June 27, 2021, in St. Louis. For decades, high-profile college-bound Olympians were forced to make a choice: turn pro to cash in on their notoriety or remain an amateur to go to school. That's no longer an issue for athletes like gymnasts Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles after legislation cleared the way for them to profit off their Name, Image and Likeness. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - JUNE 27: (L-R) Jade Carey, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Simone Biles, Mykayla Skinner and Grace McCallum, the women that will represent Team USA, pose following the Women's competition of the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials at America’s Center on June 27, 2021 in St Louis, Missouri. Carmen Mandato/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

US athlete Yul Moldauer heads to Tokyo Olympics as Asian-Americans celebrate

Yul Moldauer reacts after competing on the high bar at the Olympic trials in St. Louis. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

Samuel Choe takes a photo with Yul Moldauer at the U.S. Olypmic trials in St. Louis. Photo: Handout

Janet Cho watches Yul Moldauer compete at the U.S. Olympic trials with her kids. Photo: Handout

Emily Chen next to a Korean American flag. Photo: Handout

Yul Moldauer claps his hands after competing on the high bar at the Olympic trials in St. Louis. Photo: USA Today

Tokyo Olympics: no olive branches for Japan and South Korea as divisions deepen

Several South Korean politicians have demanded that the government announce a boycott of the Olympics, though Seoul has thus far resisted. Illustration: Joe Lo

FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2018, file photo, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, poses with Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, for a photo at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea. On Feb. 9, 2018, Kim Yo Jong flied to South Korea for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, becoming the first member of North Korea's ruling family to visit the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. She told President Moon the next day that her brother desires to meet Moon in a summit soon. (Kim Ju-sung/Yonhap via AP, File)

FILE - This combination of file photos show South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, taken in Gwangju on May 18, 2020, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, right, taken in Tokyo on Sept. 16, 2020. Suga on Thursday, Sept. 24, held his first telephone call with his South Korean counterpart since taking office, telling President Moon that the neighbors should work to resolve their strained relations. (AP Photo/File)

Members of South Korean Marine Corps take part in a military exercise in remote islands called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, South Korea, August 25, 2019. South Korean Navy/Yonhap via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. SOUTH KOREA OUT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE.

Tokyo Olympics: from surfing and skateboarding, here are the new sports to watch out for

Japan’s Misugu Okamoto is one of the stars who will be competing in the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: AFP

Australia’s Olympic softball team practices at a baseball stadium in the city of Ota, eastern Japan. Photo: Kyodo

Shun Murakami of Japan competes during a Tokyo 2020 Olympics surfing test event at at Tsurigasaki Beach. Photo: Kyodo

Sky Brown, of Great Britain, competes in the women’s Park Final during an Olympic qualifying skateboard event in Iowa. Photo: AP

The Czech Republic’s Adam Ondra climbs during the men’s boulder finals at the climbing World Cup in May. Photo: AP

Germany’s Jasmin Juettner prepares for the Tokyo Olympics with her coach Efthimios Karamitsos. Photo: Reuters

Tokyo 2020 Games will have record number of women taking part but are they really the first ‘gender equal’ Olympics?

The IOC has trumpeted Tokyo 2020 as the first ‘gender balanced’ Olympic Games.  Illustration: Joe Lo

Seiko Hashimoto (right) was hired to replace Toshiro Muto as president of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organising committee. Photo: Kyodo

A statue of Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee, is displayed at Japan Olympic Committee headquarters with an Olympic Rings monument in Tokyo. Photo: EPA

IOC and anti-corruption bodies hope to keep match-fixing and manipulation out of the Olympics after 2012 badminton scandal

Workers inspect a set of Olympic Rings that are scheduled to be installed inside Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016. Photo: AP

Sports and anti-corruption lawyer Kevin Carpenter.

A combination of pictures on August 1, 2012, shows eight badminton players that were disqualified Wednesday in a match-fixing scandal at the Olympic badminton tournament in London. (Top Row L-R) South Korea's Kim Ha Na, Ha Jung-Eun, Kim Min-Jung, Jung Kyung-Eun. (Bottom Row L-R) Indonesia's Greysia Polii, Meiliana Jauhari and China's Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang. AFP PHOTO/STAFF

Catherine Ordway, assistant professor University of Canberra. Anti-doping expert.

Tokyo Olympics: IOC puts Covid-19 risks on athletes’ shoulders as groups hit out at ‘Playbook’ and medical experts express concern

Athletes will be inside a bubble during the Tokyo Olympics even as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on in Japan. Illustration: Joe Lo

Paul Greene (centre) in a sports arbitration panel in Georgetown. Photo: Twitter

Lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya shows off a placard during a news conference after he and anti-Olympics petition organizer to submit a petition calling for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to be cancelled to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (not in picture) at the Tokyo Metropolitan Office press club in Tokyo, Japan May 14, 2021. REUTERS/Naoki Ogura

epa09211594 Pedestrians walk past the logo of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, 19 May 2021, as a three-day meeting of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad starts. The International Olympic Committee, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Government of Japan and other relevant parties participate in the meeting. EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Professor Patrick Yung Shu-hang, chairman of the department of orthopaedics and traumatology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Medicine. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong's six-strong rowing team wear masks, shields and extra protective gear before leaving for Narita Airport for an Olympic qualifying event at Tokyo Bay. Photo: Handout

Mike Toole, Epidemiologist, Technical Advisor Know-C19 Hub at Burnet Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Handout

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 24, 2021 file photo, a nurse holds a vial of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided through the global COVAX initiative, prior to vaccination in Machakos, Kenya. The Serum of Institute of India says it hopes to start delivering coronavirus vaccine doses to the U.N. backed effort known as COVAX and to other countries by the end of the year, in a move that will significantly set back global efforts to immunize people against COVID-19. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, file)

FILE - In this May 6, 2021, file photo, health worker tries to adjust the oxygen mask of a patient at the BKC jumbo field hospital, one of the largest COVID-19 facilities in Mumbai, India. A dip in the number of coronavirus cases in Mumbai is offering a glimmer of hope for India, which is suffering through a surge of infections. But experts say the crisis is far from over in the country of nearly 1.4 billion people, with hospitals still overwhelmed and officials struggling with short supplies of oxygen and beds. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2020, file photo, IOC President Thomas Bach visits the National Stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games postponed until July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, in Tokyo. Bach has canceled a trip in May 2021 to Japan because of surging cases of COVID-19 in the country, the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee said Monday, May 10, 2021 in a statement. The trip was made impossible because of a state of emergency in Tokyo and other parts of the country that has been extended until May 31. (Behrouz Mehri/Pool Photo via AP, Fo;e)

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (centre) gives her support to Hong Kong's Olympic athletes during a visit to the Hong Kong Sports Institute in May. Photo: HKSI

Carrie Lam’s Tokyo Olympics TV deal: a bid to reignite Hong Kong’s patriotic fervour like in Beijing 2008?

Children in Hong Kong show their support for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch relay. Photo: SCMP Pictures

A protester practises throwing a petrol bomb during the anti-government protests of 2019. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. Photo: Nora Tam

Former Chinese gymnastics champion Li Ning delivers the torch to the cauldron of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Photo: Xinhua

The Chinese women’s volleyball team has long been a fan favourite. Photo: Felix Wong

Police officers outside the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo. Photo: Bloomberg

As Xi offers vaccines to Tokyo Olympics, China hopes to avoid a boycott of Beijing’s 2022 Winter Games

A giant Olympic rings monument at dusk in Odaiba Marine Park, Tokyo. Photo: EPA

A worker at the under-construction ski jumping venue for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, in Zhangjiakou. Photo:  AFP

Why Tokyo thinks the 2020 Olympics show must go on – even as Covid-19 booms

Opposition to the Tokyo Games is becoming more fervent in the host nation as protesters hold up signs while marching in front of Tokyo’s National Stadium. Photo: DPA

FILE PHOTO: Olympics - Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Test Event - Athletics - Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan - May 9, 2021. Medical officers wearing protective suits are seen at the morning session of the Athletics test event. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

An ignition ceremony for the Tokyo Olympic torch relay is held at Heiwadai Athletic Stadium in Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The torch relay was taken off public roads due to the coronavirus pandemic. The next week's torch relay is being pulled off the streets in Hiroshima prefecture, too, as COVID-19 cases rise in Japan. This is at least the sixth change to the relay - from rerouting to cancellation - in the last several weeks as cases surge in Japan. Organizers warned before the relay began that changes and delays were expected in the face of the pandemic. (Kyodo News via AP)


IOC frets about ageing TV audience for Games, as well as legacy of Olympism – its promotion of sports as key to a balanced lifestyle and harmonious development
While it has teamed up with social media platforms and is experimenting with esports, experts say current situation may just reflect a natural cultural shift



The IOC is worried about the ageing television audience for the Games, as well as the legacy of Olympism – its promotion of sports as a key to a balanced lifestyle and harmonious development.
