Is it the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? Or is it Tokyo 2021? I’ve seen the Olympic social media handles write “Tokyo 2020+1,” which looks confusing. It’s as if they already produced a ton of merchandise with “Tokyo 2020” on it, and just want to write a “+1” on the end so they don’t have to remake it all over again…
This is the unintentional theme of the current XXXII Olympiad: confusion. Apparently, 80% of the Japanese population want to cancel the Olympics, which makes canceling the Olympics a very relevant topic of conversation for Japanese politicians looking to gain a few extra brownie points for their respective political parties. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee has distribution contracts signed with media conglomerates around the world for broadcasting rights, which is by far the biggest money-making part of the Olympic Games.
Comcast, whom owns NBCUniversal, the media company responsible for distributing the Olympics inside the US, is going to push for the Games to continue. Why? Because the advertising dollars from huge corporations weren’t collected last year, and they must crucially be recouped this year in order to keep business profitable. This is why Comcast, and all their media subsidiaries, which include more than just their television networks, will be firing all cylinders to ensure that these Olympics happen.
Who wants the Olympics canceled? Well, all of Comcast’s telecommunication rivals of course. Disney, whom owns ABC, will do their best to thwart these Olympics in the hopes that it’ll dilute Comcast’s ever-growing influence in the global media space. This isn’t limited to Disney’s ownership of television stations either, it extends out to newspapers their companies are affiliated with. For example: Disney purchased Fox from Newscorp in 2019. This means that Disney is now indirectly affiliated with Newscorp.
Have you noticed that Newscrop’s newspaper, The WSJ, is publishing media stories heavily skewed to have the Olympics canceled? This is because a canceled Games helps Disney/ABC/Fox to maintain their number one position as the biggest media conglomerate. All these media companies directly and indirectly influence one another, and how they choose to report news affects their place of standing in the media marketplace.
The same thing is happening with Viacom, who owns CBS, whom was the last company to own the distribution rights to the Olympics before Comcast/NBC won the rights in 1992. Viacom, and all her media subsidiaries, will do everything possible to can the Olympics so they can leap-frog over Comcast and claim their spot as the 2nd biggest media conglomerate in the US.
The general theme of the Olympics in the current age is all about money, bottom-line profits, money, advertising dollars, distribution rights, more money, and the newest shadow Olympic event that has emerged in the past 30 years: sparring between media conglomerates, all with the intention of trying to gain a leg-up on their rivals and steal away advertising dollars.
So, there’s plenty of incentive for at least 2 media conglomerates and their affiliates to cancel the Olympics. It highlights the shift from the Olympics being an event that draws the world together once every quadrennial, to a big fat money-making machine benefiting only those few involved. This is being highlighted against the backdrop of a global pandemic, which is a public relations nightmare.
The Olympics are supposed to be about finding more common ground among the human race in a time where countries are deeply divided, now more than ever. The Olympiads of yesteryear centered around athletes, fierce competition, good sportsmanship, interesting stories, triumphs of the human spirit, and bringing the world together through the mechanism of sport. Nowadays there is a strong driving economic incentive from Comcast’s rivals to keep people divided over the event. As an athlete who has been to 2 Olympics in my career, I couldn’t help but wonder: with so much profit to be gained from dividing the entire world and keeping people at odds with one another, is there any financial value in bringing the world together?
In Rio 2016, I found myself in headlines with a lot of attention and causing all kinds of a ruckus on social media. While it was necessary for me to speak my mind at one finite moment in time, I over-stepped boundaries and started calling out countries that I thought were acting horribly inside the Olympic Village. While the former was necessary, the latter wasn’t. It is simply unnecessary for me to take it upon myself to call out privilege, and call out all the inequalities one experiences at the Olympics representing a smaller nation. These were the very early days of “call-out culture” and performative activism. Now let’s get one thing clear: I am an activist, albeit, the silent kind, that does more with actions than I do words on the internet. Its less ugly this way.
If I do attend my 3rd Olympics, which is highly likely, I want people to see that I can be quiet and that I can play along with the shenanigans. I’ll stay silent, fade into the background, and I won’t make a sound. I don’t need, desire, nor want, any kind of attention at all. For me personally, I see what’s going on with the wider picture of this whole thing and I’m keeping a low-profile.
The Tokyo Olympics will be special because I get to share these moments with my mother, who has been there every step of the way during the entirety of my swimming career. From waking up at 5 AM to take me to swim practice, to officiating at national swim meets, Mum has been there for it all. I want to go to Tokyo and really be present with her. That’s all I ask. That’s all I want. No drama, no calling out, no social media attention seeking bullshit, just special moments with my Mum.
After not seeing my family for over 2 years due to the global pandemic, I’m deserving of a little nurturing. I deserve my mother’s hug, and I just want to feel like everything is going to be alright. I can’t wait to sit back and enjoy meals together, sharing cups of tea with mum. I can say with full certainty that this will be the highlight of my trip.
The new moon eclipse in Gemini is good for releasing old things. Part of what I’m releasing is my swimming career, which no longer serves its relevance in my life anymore. I’m also releasing the old boy I used to be, and stepping into the new man I’ve become. I’ve decided that these Tokyo Olympics will be my swan song: