With both Olympics being held in Asian countries in the near future, officials have started to question the events. The novel coronavirus has raised some alarms about the Olympics.
The idea of proceeding with the Olympics without live fans could be an option. So far, other smaller sporting events such as the International Biathlon Union’s World Cup event in the Czech Republic have been played without fans.
Another option is the postponement of the games by a few months. The contract between Japan and the IOC states that the games must be held in 2020, so the latest the games could start would be October.
Moving the games to another country is also out of the question. The virus is global and only Japan is ready for an event of this mass this year.
The last resort option would be the cancellation of the games. This has only happened three times. Once in 1916 and twice in the 1940s due to war.
Ultimately only time will tell what becomes of the 2020 Summer Olympics. It’s only March and a lot can happen in four months, but the IOC will be listening to experts from WHO in the future as time progresses.
Aside from the timing of the Olympics, there are major differences between the two.
The Olympics are played every four years, with the summer and winter versions switching every two years.
The Summer Olympics span across two months, while the Winter Olympics don’t even take a full month. That could be because of the number of sports and competing nations differ.
The Summer Olympics have over 200 countries, while the Winter Olympics only have roughly 90 countries.
The Winter Olympics only have 15 sports, including ice hockey, snowboarding and figure skating to name a few for a total of 102 events. On the other hand, due to better weather conditions, the Summer Olympics have 47 sports. Some sports include the likes of basketball, cycling and gymnastics for a total of 300 events.
With more countries and sports, the Summer Olympics are more popular than the Winter Olympics. More athletes compete in the Summer Olympics and more people come to watch them.
The first Winter Olympics games were discussed since 1901, but they were first held in 1924 in Chamonix, France, while the first Summer Olympics began much earlier in 1896. The deciding body of the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided in 1925 to host the winter and summer Olympics separately. Before that, both games occurred in the same year.
Currently, the United States leads with the most medals overall at 2400.
One key similarity between the two Olympics is their medals. Both games give winners gold, silver and bronze medals.