Why the Tokyo Olympics can bring the world together in this time of adversity

On paper at least, the case against staging the Tokyo Olympic Games during a pandemic seems compelling. With Japan's vaccine uptake lagging behind those of other developed nations, the country is currently experiencing a wave of infections serious enough for the government to have imposed a state of emergency in Tokyo and other major metropolitan areas.

With this in mind, organizers revealed earlier this month that the Games would go ahead without spectators, dashing hopes that audiences would be allowed into Tokyo's New National Stadium in at least some capacity.

Many ordinary Japanese are also opposed to the Olympics being held in the current circumstances, with polls showing as many as 83 percent are opposed to staging the Games this summer.

The risk of COVID-19 transmission also extends to members of each arriving delegation, with the potential for severe disruption to training and competition routines. Despite rigorous procedures designed to prevent infection, two South African footballers tested positive for COVID-19 in the athletes' village in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, six athletes and two staff members from Team GB's athletics team are self-isolating after an individual on their flight tested positive, and Australia's entire athletics squad were quarantined in their rooms at a pre-Games training camp after a COVID-19 scare.

Yet despite the many reasons to call off the Games entirely, the IOC has remained steadfast in its intention that they will go ahead as (re)scheduled this summer. From a purely pragmatic point of view, there is too much at stake financially not to do so: estimates place the cost of cancelling the Games at 17 billion U.S. dollars.

But from an ideological standpoint, the Tokyo Games can show the world that there just might be a light at the end of this tunnel, and that life can be normal again.

With no spectators in stadiums, this uniquely made-for-TV version of the Games has the potential to touch even more people than the 3.6 billion who tuned into the 2016 Rio Olympics, and the likes of Simone Biles, Kevin Durant, Katie Ledecky and home hero Naomi Osaka will offer a much-needed distraction for those who remain confined to their homes.

Even those with no previous interest in sport may suddenly find themselves armchair experts in beach volleyball, clay pigeon shooting or three-day eventing for two weeks.

There will be new sports to watch and enjoy too, like sport climbing, surfing, skateboarding and karate, designed to make the Games appeal to younger audiences and different demographics.

And for the athletes, appearing at an Olympics is the culmination of a lifetime spent training hard, often in extreme adversity, in order to fulfil a childhood dream. For many competing this summer, this will be the only Games of their careers, and only the select few will get the chance to immortalize themselves as one of the greatest by becoming an Olympic champion.

Yes, these Games will be strange, and very different from those that went before. But after 18 months of struggle against COVID-19, there's nothing quite like an Olympic Games to bring the world together.