Tokyo Olympics suffers 40-year CURSE that KO’d 1940 Games due to WWII as Moscow 1980 hit with Cold War boycotts
TOKYO 2020 is set to fall victim to the dreaded 40-year curse that KO’d the 1940 games due to WWII and hit Moscow 1980 with Cold War boycotts.
Japan’s own Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso has even come out and warned people it is 100 per cent “fact” that the event has been blighted the jinx.
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Despite the Japanese government stubbornly insisting that this year’s Olympics will go ahead they are reportedly looking into plans to host the games without spectators or a postponement of one or two years due to the coronavirus crisis.
The prospect of axing an Olympics is all too familiar for the country who were forced to scrap the games in 1940 because of WWII.
Aso, who is also the Finance Minister in Japan, believes Tokyo 2020 has been hit with a curse that began in 1940 and struck again four decades later with the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games.
He said: “It’s a problem that’s happened every 40 years.
“It’s the cursed Olympics – and that’s a fact.”
TOKYO OLYMPICS 1940
Three years before WWII broke out in 1939, the Olympics were held in Berlin where the Nazi party had risen to power.
The games were almost boycotted because western countries like the US questioned supporting an Olympics hosted by the Nazi regime.
But 49 countries took part, more than any other previous games and Adolf Hitler took full advantage of the enormous propaganda opportunity presented to him.
Germany proved it had risen from the ashes of WWI and successfully staged the Games, but while also allowing the Nazis to thrive – something that would have repercussions far beyond the world of sports.
Japan had won the bid to bring the following Games to Asia for the first time ever and prove to the world they had recovered from a devastating earthquake 17 years prior.
But WWII tensions spread across the globe and friction with China lead to uproar in the country for cash to be used for military purposes – leading to a strain on Japan’s Olympic preparations.
There was talk of Britain and the US boycotting because of Japan’s war-like activity but the Japanese government, like today, insisted the show would go on.
However, increased troubles with China made staging the games impossible and the Japanese Olympic Committee eventually caved and the 1940 Olympics were axed.
MOSCOW OLYMPICS 1980
The “curse” struck again in Russia 40 years after Japan cancelled its games.
Between 60 and 65 nations withdrew from the 1980 Moscow Olympics out of protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan a year before.
The US led the boycott after their call for the International Olympic Committee to move the Games from Moscow to Greece was brushed aside.
However the British Olympic Association rebelled against their government and sent a team and said: “We believe sport should be a bridge, and not a destroyer.”
While the Brits turned up, the boycott meant it was a far from satisfactory Games.
TOKYO 2020?
A final decision on Tokyo 2020’s postponement will have to come from the IOC but Japan’s stance also matters.
The IOC and its powerful chief, Thomas Bach, currently say the Games will go ahead as planned, drawing fire from athletes who say that could be a health risk.
Among those now voicing their discontent are the US Track and Field team – a strong voice in the debate – and postponement looks inevitable.
