JOSEPH: It doesn't matter if you're an athlete or a coach...
Give it your all! Come on! Let's go!
One more time. Do it again.
..or just an increasingly impatient fan...
Come on, Australia! Do us proud!
..it really hasn't been a good year or so for the Olympics.
Yes! Yes! Go, Australia!
The Games were originally meant to be held
in July last year in Tokyo,
with the Paralympics following a month after.
But after countries started pulling out because of COVID-19,
they both got pushed back.
A year on, the pandemic is still very much with us,
and while host country Japan is busy preparing,
it's also dealing with a fourth wave of the virus.
Hospitals are struggling with thousands of new cases every day,
and doctors there say they don't want the Games to go ahead,
and many locals feel the same way.
An online petition calling for the Olympics to be cancelled
has more than 350,000 signatures,
and a recent poll found that more than 80% of locals
want the Games to be postponed or scrapped altogether.
They're worried about
the thousands of athletes and coaches from all over the globe
flying in and spreading the virus, or even getting sick themselves,
and some athletes are a little unsure about whether they should go too.
I don't know yet, um, honestly.
In a normal world, I will never think about, um,
missing Olympics.
Under these circumstances, um, I don't know.
Let's see what's going on.
So, does all this point to the Olympics being cancelled?
Well, no. At least, not yet.
That would be huge,
because the Olympics hardly ever gets cancelled.
In fact, it's only ever happened on three previous occasions -
in 1916, 1940 and 1944,
which were all because of world wars.
That decision is entirely down to the International Olympic Committee,
or IOC, and so far, they're pretty committed...
Everything is telling us,
from the test events to the international events,
that the Games can go ahead and will go ahead.
..not only because the hopes and dreams
of thousands of athletes ride on it,
but because there's a lot of money involved.
The Olympics rakes in billions of dollars
in broadcasting and advertising,
which would all be lost if the Games were cancelled.
As for Japan, well, part of agreeing to host the Games
means you can't back out,
at least, not without being on the hook
for not just the costs,
but the loss of all the possible earnings
that comes with it.
But as this contract between the IOC and the host city of Tokyo states,
there is one quite relevant reason why it could still be cancelled,
and that's if the IOC has reason to believe
that the safety of participants would be seriously threatened
or jeopardised for any reason whatsoever.
The question is now -
is the pandemic a serious threat to participants?
Well, the IOC say it's doing everything it can
to make sure everyone is safe ahead of the start on July 23.
And a lot of countries are testing and vaccinating their athletes
before the Games and quarantining them in bubbles.
That includes our Aussie athletes.
We're all working hard here at the AOC,
and with our member sports,
to take the Australian team to Tokyo -
our largest since 2000.
So, what do you guys think?
Should the Games still go ahead?
I think the Olympics should not be cancelled.
Because a lot of people have been waiting for it
and it was supposed to happen last year.
Since they cancelled it,
I'm pretty sure they don't want to cancel it again.
I do believe that the Olympics should not go ahead
because of COVID.
And even though the vaccines have been made and everything,
a lot of the athletes have still been getting COVID-19,
and that could put in danger also their coaches,
other athletes, and the fans.
If everybody's had the COVID test,
had a vaccine, and you know that they're safe,
I reckon it would all be fine.