No Fans Allowed?

The Japanese government is making every effort to make sure the 2021 (yeah, yeah, I know, it's still officially 2020, but it's 2021) Olympics in Tokyo go off without a hitch - despite a bad ongoing COVID outbreak in the country and despite the ban on foreign spectators at the Games.  Now this guy has suggested that the Olympics should be held without any fans in the stands at all.

This is Shigeru Omi, an infectious disease expert who is leading Japan's government COVID subcommittee. He and other specialists urged the the government to limit spectators at the Olympics at an even lower number than the current maximum in place currently for large-scale events in Japan.  But ideally, Omi doesn't think even that is enough; he thinks that having zero spectators would be the most desirable scenario.

I can think of another desirable scenario.  Wait until 2022.

The organizers of the Games have decided not to go as far as to ban fans from the stands (I'm a poet, and I know it) but instead will allow no more than 10,000 spectators at an event at one time.  Despite that, this is easily going to be the worst Olympiad since Antwerp in 1920, when the Games were held right after World War I (and another pandemic) in an unfinished stadium and a decrepit pool filled with cold water.  The Japanese government is already ending the state of emergency in eight of the country's prefectures, including Tokyo, but the Delta variant remains a concern and could make the COVID situation even worse.

How can the fans party in an atmosphere like that?

They can't, of course, and if the Tokyo organizing committee members change their minds  and end up banning fan attendance at the Olympics, a gold-medal victory won't feel like a moment of glory.  It will feel like a practice session.