By Sue-Ann Wayow
TOKYO, Japan.
The place to be for 2021 as the largest sporting compilation is being held, one year later, no thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept through the entire world.
The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, as the year was kept, has brought with it many challenges, disappointments and now somewhat relief for both athletes and fans. And there is no turning back.
Trinidad and Tobago has had its own set of challenges as already three of its 50 member team contracted Covid and two athletes could not compete in their events.
Already the Caribbean countries are excelling in some events, especially track and field with Jamaica out in front.
AZPNews.com was able to interview via email, a Guyanese national who has been living and working in Japan since 2009.
Dr Devon Dublin is an academic, veterinarian and environmentalist from Guyana. During this time, he studied at Hokkaido University and subsequently worked at Hokkaido University of Education and Conservation International Japan. He enjoys travelling and Scrabble.
And like most, he was excited about the games being held in Japan, an excitement that quickly turned into despair.
He said, “When Tokyo was selected, I was just as excited as the Japanese were. I thought it was a great opportunity to attend the Olympics with ease. Admittedly, that excitement slowly turned to despair when the pandemic threatened the games. Even with the new version of the games, where we were told that there would be no spectators, I was looking forward to the Olympic torch passing through my town. It was advertised and then cancelled by my town due to Covid which I thought was an overreaction given that this was something being done in the outdoors along the roadway. To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly.”
He also felt in no way threatened by the influx of persons travelling to Japan since the Olympic health protocols along with the Japanese Government were very strict.
Adding that the protocols in place for the games far exceeded what the average resident in Japan adhered to, he thinks the issue is not the people coming but what was not done for persons living in Japan including the nationals.
“Since Japan was hosting the games, there should have been a vibrant and aggressive vaccination effort to get the country as close to herd immunity as possible before the start of the games and that would have allowed for vaccinated locals to attend the games as spectators. I think it was great opportunity that was lost. Persons would have been willing to get vaccinated knowing that it would be their extra ticket to the games.”
As a Caribbean national, Dr Dublin said that in Japan, Caribbean peopel in Japan were few and scattered throughout the country.
For Japanese nationals who knew Caribbean nationals, he said those persons will particularly look for those country’s teams at the opening and will also look for those athletes throughout the games. “That makes for great talking points when they meet up with you or when they send you a message,” he said.
Dr Dublin said, “The Tokyo Olympics paired each national team with a local town and that town would support that team. Guyana for example was paired with Date Town. The idea was that the teams would have arrived a bit earlier and visited the town paired with them and have some interactions. The members of the town would also have attended the games waving the country’s flag etcetera but that all fell through due to Covid-19. There are some Japanese fans of the Caribbean who are into reggae, soca, calypso, steel pans and carnivals who would be ardent supporters of Caribbean teams.”
He hopes that Guyana and the Caribbean can bag as many medals as possible. China, the United States and Japan are presently leading the medal board. Caribbean teams have a bit of popularity due to sprinter Usain Bolt since he is quite famous in Japan. The Japanese were quite disappointed that he retired before the Tokyo Olympics, he said.
Dr Dublin said, “Caribbean teams will be in spotlight for the athletics section of the games and should try to shine as much as possible there.”
And he said, “I think after the opening ceremony and everyone realised that it’s a go and there is no turning back, even those who opposed the games are actually settling in and enjoying the televised material and that national pride and camaraderie is taking the place of the negative thoughts people had about hosting the games.”
