P Kharel

Not in Another 50 Years."
That was the headline summing up my article scribed for the Motherland news daily after what was seen as Nepal’s Olympian debacle in the 1980 Moscow Games. The gist of the write-up was that Nepal would not be able to bag any medal in the world’s top-rated sporting spectacle for at least the next five decades. Now in its 41st year since the view was first aired, this scribe has no hesitation in renewing the opinion for the next half a century.
Having been assigned the news beat for sports, entertainment and education in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, this scribe recalls how the National Sports Council had raised hopes that Nepal’s boxers could fetch a medal or two in Moscow. Had that happened, the leap would mean a stupendous success. For Nepal, till then, had not won neither any Asian Games medal nor an Olympics one. The boycott might have added to the hopes of yet better prospects, though no official admitted it. With the US-led posse of teams out of the competitive picture, the Soviets emerged with the largest number of gold medals in its kitty. In any case, its place in the top two spots was assured even without the boycott drama. However, that did not mean that Nepal’s chances of bagging any boxing award soared proportionately.

Knives out
The boycott call was to condemn the Soviet Union’s military intervention in Afghanistan in December 1979. Nepal, like most other nations, registered its protest against the foreign intervention in that non-aligned South Asian independent nation.
Not to take things lying down, Moscow mobilised support from the Eastern Europe variety of communist states and a few others to shun the Los Angeles meet. Just as the American athletes were missed in the Moscow meet, the powerful Russian team’s absence was strongly felt, especially the large number of those with no realistic hope of figuring in the medal list.
Hence one or the other of the world’s topmost two teams stayed away from the Olympics for two straight meets, spanning eight years. Most athletes retire after two international quadrennials. Unfortunately for sports enthusiasts in general and athletes in particular, the Moscow Games and its 1984 version in Los Angeles were dented by boycotts. It takes a life-time’s hard work for an athlete to be selected for a prestigious sporting occasion like the Olympics. Missing an edition would generally mean the end of an athlete’s peak form. Even for those able to compete and find a spot at the victory stand, the satisfaction in their heart of hearts is like an egg without salt when many of a large number of reputed athletes do not turn up to compete.
Nepali team did not realise that the boycotting countries were keen to manufacture faults with various aspects of the Games. Knives were sharpened to belittle the entire event. Smitten by their sense of patriotism, press, too, went along with their governments which chorused the new anthem of Moscow Games bashing.
Western news media scavenged for anything that gave negative light to the Games. Nepali athletes became a victim of the attitude. The American news agency Associated Press carried an item that suggested that Moscow attracted below-average athletes to record a fairly large number of participants. It singled out Nepali squad for exaggerated reporting on its boxers who were less than fit to fight as they “cowered” in the ring corner and shook like sheep.
The AP story was picked by the politicised press in Nepal, which was after anything that embarrassed the Panchayat government. The boxers were disparaged and reviled at home. That the American agency did not carry any reports of “cowering” boxers at the next Olympics in Los Angeles or anywhere else is tells its own story. The superpowers decided to dispense with the original Olympian spirit displayed by the Games that made its debut in 776 B.C. in Athens. The constantly warring Greek city states used to put aside their differences with a firm truce in place during the competitions with also ample time for travel to and from the venue.
Notwithstanding the enormous prestige attached with hosting the Olympics, only a select few cities and regions have the resources, capacity and interest in hosting it. The International Olympic Committee probes the full credentials of prospective hosts before awarding the privilege. Deferred by a year, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 is scheduled to commence on July 23, i.e., 57 years after the city first organised the meet. Showcasing how it recovered at dazzling speed from the ashes of World War II, the city was the proud and successful host of the 1964 Olympics. Japan has succeeded in this respect where most other claimants to being major world powers have miserably failed. As the world’s most-populous region representing to one-fifth of humanity, South Asia has yet to play host to an Olympiad.

Sparse spectators
The world braces for the impending Games without any foreign spectators. Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto stresses that the Games will be denuded stadiums given the restricted number of home crowds drawn from lottery because of the fourth wave of coronavirus cases expected any time soon. Fans and families of athletes from overseas cannot flock to the venue thanks to a ban in response to the pandemic. Those with the interest and the pocket to watch the biggest sporting event unfold will have to compromise by watching the competitions on television screens.
Deferred by a year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo meet is expected to register some 90,000 athletes, officials, journalists, sponsors and support staff, including security personnel. Public opinion polls suggest that at least 60 per cent of Japanese people want the Games to be postponed because of the pandemic conditions. Yet, the organising committee and the IOC want it to go ahead. Deferment by a year is a long enough delay for them. The IOC has the power to postpone it. But too much is at stake for the core organisers, with some $42 billion at stake. Sponsorships and advertising bring in pots of money and lots of prestige. So the majority opinions of the news media and the people are sidelined at the altar of profits.
Such is the “sporting spirit” of the times 2021.

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)