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lauradi7dwRight now I'm having many negative thoughts about the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. There are always injustices, but the specifications about protests from the IOC are especially galling.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2020/01/09/tokyo-olympics-ioc-details-athlete-rules-political-protests/4419120002/
Also, construction for short-term huge gatherings tends to be ecologically devastating, and often bad for workers. And athletes, whether they get there or not, are often permanently harmed.
Despite all that, I like seeing people run faster and jump higher (does anybody still wear PF Flyers?). The US, unlike many countries, picks the marathon team in an actual staged marathon, in the same year as the Olympics. The field is narrowed down by results in certain open marathons, and then there is the final. This year it's in Atlanta, on February 29th. I have figured out how to go - stay at my parents' house a couple of extra days after the late February visit, take the overnight train from there to Atlanta (including sitting in the Greensboro train station for five hours waiting for a connection), wandering around blearily, watching the first couple of hours of the race, then hustling off to the airport to get the last nonstop Jetblue flight home. It wouldn't add an incredible amount of carbon, relative to just coming back from NC.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2020/01/09/tokyo-olympics-ioc-details-athlete-rules-political-protests/4419120002/
Also, construction for short-term huge gatherings tends to be ecologically devastating, and often bad for workers. And athletes, whether they get there or not, are often permanently harmed.
Despite all that, I like seeing people run faster and jump higher (does anybody still wear PF Flyers?). The US, unlike many countries, picks the marathon team in an actual staged marathon, in the same year as the Olympics. The field is narrowed down by results in certain open marathons, and then there is the final. This year it's in Atlanta, on February 29th. I have figured out how to go - stay at my parents' house a couple of extra days after the late February visit, take the overnight train from there to Atlanta (including sitting in the Greensboro train station for five hours waiting for a connection), wandering around blearily, watching the first couple of hours of the race, then hustling off to the airport to get the last nonstop Jetblue flight home. It wouldn't add an incredible amount of carbon, relative to just coming back from NC.
