Former University of Victoria rugby star Nate Hirayama grew up idolizing hockey player Paul Kariya. Participating for sa国际传媒 in an Olympics in Japan would be something personal and special for Hirayama and would have also been for Kariya because of ancestral links. Kariya lost his chance when a vicious cross-check in the NHL, just prior to the Olympics, kept him out of the 1998 Nagano Winter Games. Now Hirayama鈥檚 opportunity for the Tokyo Summer Games, already delayed once, hangs in the balance because of the pandemic.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 all-time points-leader Hirayama, centralized in Langford with the Canadian sevens program, is among the more than 75 Island or Island-based athletes preparing for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics this summer.
All they can do is remain focused and continue training and ignore the wildly contradictory media reports about the Games.
Japan Olympic Committee chairman Yasuhiro Yamashita told Reuters on Friday that a story late Thursday out of London, that the Games would be cancelled, was 鈥渨rong and ridiculous.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to be optimistic but it鈥檚 out of our control,鈥� said Hirayama.
鈥淔rom what I鈥檝e read, by summer the Games can happen. We鈥檙e staying positive and planning as if they will happen. That鈥檚 all we can do.鈥�
Hirayama said he has no safety concerns about travelling to Japan: 鈥淚f it鈥檚 safe to go, it will be safe to play.鈥�
Those thoughts were echoed by rugby sevens Canadian teammate Pat Kay of Duncan.
鈥淚t鈥檚 getting to crunch time. As of now, all things are a go,鈥� said the Cowichan Secondary graduate.
鈥淥bviously, what we expected heading into last year has changed. Nobody expected to be looking at an Olympics delayed by a year. But we鈥檙e committed and in a good space. Things will be getting to normalized by the summer.鈥�
Infielder Emma Entzminger of Victoria is part of the Tokyo Olympics-qualified Canadian women鈥檚 softball team.
鈥淵ou just live in the moment in training and take it day by day,鈥� said the Lambrick Park Secondary graduate.
鈥淚 am optimistic about the Olympics taking place. Our attitude is that they will be happening. But it鈥檚 hard to know what they will look like.鈥�
An increasingly likely scenario is a Tokyo Games without spectators, something sports fans are well acquainted with by now after viewing the NHL and NBA venues with tarps and signage covering the seats. Since 73 percent of the International Olympic Committee鈥檚 income is derived from broadcasting revenues, and another 18 percent from sponsors who rely on the broadcasting exposure from the Games, all that really needs to be staged in Tokyo is a made-for-TV type event. It would still be uplifting for the world, even more so considering the circumstances, and the athletes would adapt.
鈥淚f there are no fans, you will have to find motivation from elsewhere,鈥� said Entzminger.
鈥淏ut at that point, the athletes will just be grateful that it鈥檚 happening at all.鈥�
Games on or Games off, the Tokyo Olympic hopefuls are already guaranteed to be athletes who will be long remembered because of what they went through. Unique situations have a way of doing that.
鈥淭he story will be memorable no matter what,鈥� said Kay.
