The Summer Olympics, explained
| After a year’s delay, the Tokyo Olympics are set to begin in July, with the Paralympics scheduled to start in August. Years of planning — and billions in television dollars at stake — mean Olympic organizers are keen to hold the event without postponing again. |
| But polling in Japan has trended strongly against the Games, as Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida report in The Times. Thousands of athletes and other participants will be heading to Tokyo, and less than 1 percent of Japan’s population has been vaccinated. The country’s experience of the coronavirus pandemic has been comparatively mild, with the levels of infections and deaths far below those of the U.S. or Europe. But that’s not guaranteed to continue. |
| One thing that is staying the same: The Games will still be called Tokyo 2020, reflected in heaps of T-shirts, mugs, signage and other branded merchandise. |
