It has been just over six months since the Games were first cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over this period, the world has slowly been making progress towards what will be our new normal. Governments are beginning to allow businesses and schools to reopen with hopes of a continued decline in coronavirus cases, but keeping in mind the safety of everyone with the upcoming flu season beginning in the upcoming months. With a vaccine still in development and likely still a few months away how we predict the status international competitions such as the Olympics resuming is still in question.
There has been discussion of the possibility of the vaccine once it becomes available, that it will be administered with priority to Olympic athletes. This raises ethical questions as to why these healthy, young individuals should receive the vaccine when older populations are affected the heaviest. There is also the debate of running similar set-ups as the major North American sports such as the NHL and NBA. We are still several months away from having to enact either plan, but it is important to foster the debate that could arise with such questions.
Although there are still many questions to be answered surrounding how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the upcoming Olympics, we do know safety of the everyone involved will be at the forefront. In light of the pandemic, it has led to new research in the sociology of sport investigating how the sport has changed during the pandemic.
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Sport, Not Games ⚽ 