The 2020 Summer Olympics (23 July – 8 August 2021) and Paralympic Games (24 August – 5 September 2021) were held in Tokyo, Japan.
For many reasons, these major sporting events were unique:
The COVID-19 pandemic:
1. Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, these events originally scheduled for 2020 were postponed to 2021. This situation is unique in the Olympic and Paralympic history and required considerable preparation adjustments for the organizing committees, the athletes and their supporting teams.
2. The training regimen, preparation and selection of the athletes as well as the antidoping tests were perturbed by national lockdown policies, which differed between countries.
3. In many sports, no spectators were permitted, creating an “experimental set-up” to evaluate the influence of the crowd on athletes’ performance in major competition.
4. For safety reasons, the duration of stay in Japan and/or in the Olympic/Paralympic village was restricted when compared to previous Olympics and Paralympics. This was an additional challenge to recover from jet lag and acclimatize to local environmental conditions for many teams who normally live and/or compete in European or American countries.
5. Similarly, the travel bans leading up to the Olympics and Paralympics and COVID-19 related restrictions after entering Japan have significantly impacted team’s original plan of their training regimen leading up to the games.
6. Important biosecurity protocols were implemented such as practicing social distancing, maintaining high hygiene standards, and wearing face masks. This may have had diverse effects on athletes’ anxiety vs well-being.
Sporting events
The Olympic Games featured 339 events in 33 different sports, while 206 delegations participated, while the Paralympic Games had 539 events in 22 sports, with participations from 162 delegations.
1. New sports (karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding) and new event formats (e.g., 3x3 basketball, freestyle BMX and several mixed gender teams) were introduced in the Olympic program. Scientific investigations of these mixed gender events have not yet been done.
2. Badminton and taekwondo had been added to the Paralympic program.
3. Important concerns prior the events and considerable logistic measures have been endorsed to mitigate the heat and to protect athletes’ physical integrity at this time of the year in Tokyo.
4. Many world records were broken in swimming, track cycling and athletics. The reasons for top performances may vary between sports need to be better understood.
5. A total of 93 countries/regions won at least one medal, which is the highest ever achieved and shows a continuous increasing universalization of the Olympic movement. Seventy-eight countries won at least one medal during the Paralympic Games, which is slightly less from the previous Paralympic Games in Rio 2016 (n=83).
6. Important changes in the medals table were observed (e.g. The Netherlands and Italy entering in the top-10 medal table of the Olympic games). In the Paralympic Games the top medaling countries remained similar (e.g., China, Great Britain, United States, Ukraine). The reasons for the success or failure across delegations remain unclear.
The aim of this Research Topic is to shed light on the specific characteristics of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and consequently on the challenges met and the lessons learned.
Encouraged article topics include, but are not limited to the physical and mental demands of Olympic and Paralympic events, athletes’ preparation for the Games, and specific challenges faced due to the ongoing pandemic. Studies in all sport science disciplines (e.g. exercise and environmental physiology, sociology, psychology, biomechanics, sport medicine, … to only name a few) are welcome. Submission of interdisciplinary studies are particularly warranted.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
The 2020 Summer Olympics (23 July – 8 August 2021) and Paralympic Games (24 August – 5 September 2021) were held in Tokyo, Japan.
For many reasons, these major sporting events were unique:
The COVID-19 pandemic:
1. Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, these events originally scheduled for 2020 were postponed to 2021. This situation is unique in the Olympic and Paralympic history and required considerable preparation adjustments for the organizing committees, the athletes and their supporting teams.
2. The training regimen, preparation and selection of the athletes as well as the antidoping tests were perturbed by national lockdown policies, which differed between countries.
3. In many sports, no spectators were permitted, creating an “experimental set-up” to evaluate the influence of the crowd on athletes’ performance in major competition.
4. For safety reasons, the duration of stay in Japan and/or in the Olympic/Paralympic village was restricted when compared to previous Olympics and Paralympics. This was an additional challenge to recover from jet lag and acclimatize to local environmental conditions for many teams who normally live and/or compete in European or American countries.
5. Similarly, the travel bans leading up to the Olympics and Paralympics and COVID-19 related restrictions after entering Japan have significantly impacted team’s original plan of their training regimen leading up to the games.
6. Important biosecurity protocols were implemented such as practicing social distancing, maintaining high hygiene standards, and wearing face masks. This may have had diverse effects on athletes’ anxiety vs well-being.
Sporting events
The Olympic Games featured 339 events in 33 different sports, while 206 delegations participated, while the Paralympic Games had 539 events in 22 sports, with participations from 162 delegations.
1. New sports (karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding) and new event formats (e.g., 3x3 basketball, freestyle BMX and several mixed gender teams) were introduced in the Olympic program. Scientific investigations of these mixed gender events have not yet been done.
2. Badminton and taekwondo had been added to the Paralympic program.
3. Important concerns prior the events and considerable logistic measures have been endorsed to mitigate the heat and to protect athletes’ physical integrity at this time of the year in Tokyo.
4. Many world records were broken in swimming, track cycling and athletics. The reasons for top performances may vary between sports need to be better understood.
5. A total of 93 countries/regions won at least one medal, which is the highest ever achieved and shows a continuous increasing universalization of the Olympic movement. Seventy-eight countries won at least one medal during the Paralympic Games, which is slightly less from the previous Paralympic Games in Rio 2016 (n=83).
6. Important changes in the medals table were observed (e.g. The Netherlands and Italy entering in the top-10 medal table of the Olympic games). In the Paralympic Games the top medaling countries remained similar (e.g., China, Great Britain, United States, Ukraine). The reasons for the success or failure across delegations remain unclear.
The aim of this Research Topic is to shed light on the specific characteristics of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and consequently on the challenges met and the lessons learned.
Encouraged article topics include, but are not limited to the physical and mental demands of Olympic and Paralympic events, athletes’ preparation for the Games, and specific challenges faced due to the ongoing pandemic. Studies in all sport science disciplines (e.g. exercise and environmental physiology, sociology, psychology, biomechanics, sport medicine, … to only name a few) are welcome. Submission of interdisciplinary studies are particularly warranted.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
