Coronavirus hangs over the flame of Tokyo

Officials can truly say these will be an Olympics 'like no other.

SPORT at the highest levels is never without its tensions. The impending Olympics are no different, but this time the tension is not just on the track, or in the pool, or on the field.

It's in the very air that the athletes breathe. The tension, as we know, moves with the COVID virus in all its mutant variations.

Postponed by a year, the games will be held behind closed doors, with no crowds.

The competitors will already be familiar with empty grandstands, and as most of the world watches the games on screens, the biggest impact is on the Japanese public.

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When Japan was announced host in 2013, Shinzo Abe, who retired as prime minister last year, said it was a sign "Japan is back".

Now, with the world in coronaviral chaos, a sizeable part of the Japanese population wants nothing to do with the arrival of more than 11,000 athletes - and their entourages - from more than 200 countries.

Protests have been frequent.

COVID is on the rise again in Japan, at more than 3000 cases a day.

Tokyo is in a state of emergency until August 22.

Newcastle basketball players Leilani Mitchell and Katie Ebzery back in town earlier this year at Newcastle Basketball Stadium. Picture Max Mason-Hubers

The Australian team lost tennis star Alex de Minaur yesterday, after a positive COVID test in Spain.

Australian chef de mission Ian Chesterman said the compulsory pre-flight swab showed the stringent testing regime was working.

As secure as the Olympic bubble might be, the athletes themselves would not be human if they did not harbour at least a shadow of concern at the back of their performance-focused minds.

Despite a plethora of doping scandals in modern times, the Olympics are as close as humanity can get to sporting "purity".

For new participants, the two weeks of competition represent a lifetime of effort. For games veterans, they are the chance to match, or better, past performances.

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Political boasting can give nationalism a bad name, but these games can be both a unifying spirit for competing countries, and for a world that has little to cheer about lately.

Here in the Hunter, we have 19 athletes across 14 sports, with nine women and 10 men giving us virtually equal gender balance.

We wish them all the best as they head into competition, knowing they will do themselves, and the nation proud.

Tokyo is only an hour behind us, time-wise, so watching our favourites will be easier than with most games.

Fingers crossed, both for results, and their safety.

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Newcastle skateboarder Poppy Olsen at Bar Beach skate bowl. Picture: Jonathan Carroll