it's about politics, too. this is the prime minister yoshihide suga who faces an election later this year — and, despite current sentiment, he might be hoping for an olympic boost. as professorjack anderson at the university of melbourne puts it... because this is about national pride. and if these games are in tokyo, well, look where the winter olympics will be in 2022 — beijing. regional rivalries means that japan really doesn't want to cancel, and then watch the chinese set piece play out months later. so that's money and politics — two reasons to go ahead. and let's not forget the people at the heart of this — the athletes. they've put in months, even years into this moment. translation: we've all trained hard, and it doesn't really matter _ whether our fans are there or not. we will give our best because olympia is olympia.