Olympics: Whatever they want you to do in Tokyo … just do it

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike shows the Tokyo Olympics playbook which details what athletes can and can’t do. Picture: AFP

If the Australian Olympic Committee says you have to do the 100m freestyle in a mask and snorkel, do it. If it says you have to keep your trap shut in the athletes village and heaven forbid, selflessly forego asking those dopey American NBA players for their overrated autographs, do it. It’s a Stephen Bradbury-scale miracle the Tokyo Games are even going ahead, if they do, so if the AOC says you have to do the 10km walk in a hazmat suit, then you zipper up and do it.

It’ll happen. They’ll all just do it. The only complaints about the safety measures for Tokyo are coming from those speaking on behalf of athletes. Spare me. The postponement of last year’s Games left Australia’s Olympians deflated, devastated, shattered, lost, dispirited or all of the above. The greatest fear was that this year’s edition would be cancelled, annihilating their life’s dreams.

My guess is that every last one of them will do whatever it takes to live out their deepest ambition. An Olympic debut? Glorious. A fourth Olympics? Glorious. You don’t necessarily need to win one of those 60mmx3mm gold medals to make a Games worthwhile. To simply be an Olympian – the word itself is imposing and distinguished – is a soaring glory in itself.

Whatever they have to do, they’ll do it. Guaranteed. The other option is simple. Don’t go! No one is holding a skeet shooting gun to their heads. But if the Matildas have to give a nostril to the testers before their games, after their games and at halftime of their games, they’ll do it. If Ash Barty has to be tested at every change of ends and between first and second serves, she’ll do it. If Justis Huni has to get tested every time he sits on his stool, he’ll do it.

If Steph Gilmore tucks into a tube at Tsurigasaki Beach and finds a COVID-19 tester in there, all good. If Ariarne Titmus has to be tested every time she does a tumble turn against Katie Ledecky in what may be the single greatest contest of the Games, heck yes she’ll do it. I find it unfathomable that any Olympic-bound athlete will withdraw because, oh, you know, the security measures weren’t to one’s liking.

Sacrifices are nothing new to these fiercely driven souls. Few of them are in it for the money. Because there is none. They’ve been making various degrees of sacrifices their whole lives. An insular, head-down, blinkered existence in Tokyo will suit plenty of athletes down to a tee. Umpteen of them aren’t especially fond of the usual village circus. The party animals can suck it up and respect the importance of doing the right thing. Otherwise, and rightly so, they will be frogmarched onto the next plane home. It’s one in, all in, or you’re out.

The biggest consternation is over Australian athletes having to stay in Tokyo if they test positive. They’ll go under the Japanese government’s system until they’re given the all-clear. Good. We don’t want them coming back here and sneezing all over us. But seriously, the fuss about this is a nonsense.

An Australian athlete will probably get the virus. For all we know, thousands of the world’s athletes will get it. “Olympic cluster” may feature in a yarn or two. The Games may become the mother of all superspreaders, wiping out the entire human race, if it goes pear-shaped. Or there may be nothing of any real significance. All the athletes can do is keep a distance, speak only when spoken to, and sometimes not even then, and try to get in and out in one piece. Every precaution is fair and unreasonable. It’s not just about protecting the athletes. It’s about keeping the Japanese public safe.

Two-week tennis majors, featuring thousands of personnel from all corners of the globe, have come and gone without incident once the pre-tournament bleating from Novak Djokovic has stopped. If Olympians have to be tested every day, if they must compete without spectators, if they are ordered to wear masks – in this day and age, what else does anyone expect?

If athletes thumb their noses rather than presenting them for analysis, kick them out. Simple. The rules of the game are clear and every Olympian will want to play. For the everlasting glory of what it makes them. An Olympian.