<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d081e9c7e80680e0a5ffdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="440"/><figcaption>Photo: OLYMPICS.COM</figcaption></figure>Kaori Yamaguchi, an Olympic medalist in judo and an executive member of the Japanese Olympic Committee, made an astonishing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/japan-entertainment-olympic-games-2020-tokyo-olympics-health-1e62845cfa0e1066ec2c4d905e968c14" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://apnews.com/article/japan-entertainment-olympic-games-2020-tokyo-olympics-health-1e62845cfa0e1066ec2c4d905e968c14&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627128436563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFBjMIrsq-mluXWtRXbEpORdD61XA">statement</a> – astonishing, that is, for an Olympic official. She said that Japan had been “cornered” into holding this year’s Games during a pandemic: “What will these Olympics be for, and for whom?The Games have already lost meaning and are being held just for the sake of them. I believe we have already missed the opportunity to cancel.”She is not alone. A top Japanese medical expert warned that the Games could trigger fresh Covid-19 outbreaks, and that going ahead under present conditions would “not be normal.” Over 80% of the Japanese population want the Games to be either <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/asia/covid-japan-olympics-poll.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/asia/covid-japan-olympics-poll.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627128436563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHySY8q8W5cUmPb8byobXmhhN2dJg">postponed or canceled</a>. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper, an official sponsor of the Games, has urged the government to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/asahi-daily-an-official-tokyo-olympics-partner-calls-cancellation-games-2021-05-26/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/asahi-daily-an-official-tokyo-olympics-partner-calls-cancellation-games-2021-05-26/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627128436563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGHbpUcCWxXMeySJVZ4_j_54PJjBw">abandon the enterprise</a>. If the Games do go ahead, which seems most likely, the events will take place in mostly empty stadiums built at huge expense.Yamaguchi’s question is a valid one. For whom are the Olympics? The athletes already have ample opportunity to compete in all kinds of international championships. And the Japanese should not pay the price for entertaining television viewers. Perhaps the Games are for Japanese politicians who hoped the spectacle would burnish their prestige, or for the fat cats of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), those blazered worthies who believe their juggernaut’s interests should trump those of everyone else?The question of what the Olympics are really for has haunted the Games ever since Baron Pierre de Coubertin “revived” them in Athens in 1896. The Baron, like other French conservatives at the time, was worried about national virility, especially after losing the war against Prussia in 1871. He thought competitive sports would be the answer to the shortcomings of French manhood.Apart from restoring French masculinity, Coubertin also hoped that an international sporting event would promote peace by bringing the world’s peoples together. Like World Fairs and Boy Scout Jamborees, the Games would encourage international friendship as well as patriotism. After clean and fair competition, the healthiest specimens from many nations would march together to a better future.Charles Maurras, the far-right ideologue who joined the ultra-nationalist Action française, ridiculed Coubertin’s idealism at first. He despised the idea of international friendship. But then he changed his mind. Competing on track and field would make people from different nations hate one another even more. And that, in his view, would be a very good thing.In the end, neither Coubertin’s idealism nor Maurras’ cynicism prevailed. World peace did not come about, but wars were hardly the result of national partisanship in sports stadiums. The hollowness of Coubertin’s pretensions became pathetically clear when his shaky voice extolled the virtues of friendship and fair play at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, as Hitler and Goering sat smirking in their luxury seats.One cannot deny that the Games have had some positive purposes since the end of World War II. The Tokyo Olympics in 1964 were immensely important to the Japanese, symbolising not only economic revival but also political respectability. Japan was no longer a militarist predator that had been responsible for millions of bloody deaths in Asia, but a thriving democracy, open to the world.Something similar might be claimed for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. After decades of harsh imperial Japanese rule, the devastating Korean war, and more decades of military dictatorship, South Korea had emerged as a relatively open society with competitive elections, a rambunctiously free press, and a young population brimming with pride and optimism. The Koreans richly deserved the international limelight. The Seoul Games were a true celebration.Apart from these rare occasions, however, the Olympics are hard to justify. The marching, flag-waving, uniformed jamborees are a nineteenth-century anachronism, still cherished in countries whose people have no right to elect their leaders but only the obligation to praise them.North Korea is the past-master at this kind of thing, but Vladimir Putin’s Winter Olympics in 2014, held in a subtropical resort filled with artificial snow, was clearly meant as an homage to his authoritarian rule. And the brand of Chinese nationalism on display at the Beijing Games in 2008 would have been closer to Maurras’ heart than to Coubertin’s.Poorer countries, such as Greece in 2004, have been left with huge debts and deserted stadiums overgrown with weeds. And rich countries don’t really need the extravaganzas like those put on in Atlanta in 1996 or London in 2012, except perhaps as an excuse to invest in infrastructure that should have been built anyway.Tokyo in 2021 surely doesn’t need the Olympics. And yet the Olympic army marches on, making enormous amounts of money even as some countries are almost bankrupted. The IOC made a tidy <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/how-the-olympics-rotted-greece/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.politico.eu/article/how-the-olympics-rotted-greece/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627128436563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG8EpKHhSZkXTHJIbIXCSbAjmTuGw">€985 million</a> ($1.2 billion) from the Athens Olympics. I remember watching the Olympic officials strutting around in Seoul. The poorer the country they represented, the bigger their platinum watches seemed to be.The Games are a gigantic business for the IOC, for sponsors, for property developers, and sometimes for corrupt politicians. That is what they are for. Thousands of Olympic officials will be crowding the lobbies of expensive hotels in Tokyo this year.And after they leave for the next place, the big stadiums built for nothing will remain as largely abandoned sites of an event that should never have taken place.© Project SyndicateIan Buruma is the author of numerous books, including <a href="http://thepenguinpress.com/book/year-zero/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thepenguinpress.com/book/year-zero/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627128436563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEJohp2HAsrQLVCTCBcyu-xdTHx3w">Year Zero: A History of 1945</a>, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/534126/a-tokyo-romance-by-ian-buruma/9781101981412/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/534126/a-tokyo-romance-by-ian-buruma/9781101981412/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627128436564000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFH1IIVqT_XDCn8QRLf3FvYTs5LQg">A Tokyo Romance: A Memoir</a>, and, most recently, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562008/the-churchill-complex-by-ian-buruma/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562008/the-churchill-complex-by-ian-buruma/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627128436564000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFTOt3dD0KLOPn2EZU7z5NvuiCQDQ">The Churchill Complex: The Curse of Being Special, From Winston and FDR to Trump and Brexit</a>.

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What is the point of the Olympics?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07ed9c7e80680e0a5feajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1360" height="680"/><figcaption>Photo: TAKASHI AOYAMA/PROJECT SYNDICATE</figcaption></figure>On 8 July, the Japanese government declared <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-olympic-dreams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a state of emergency in Tokyo</a> until 22 August, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. That means the Tokyo Olympic Games (23 July-8 August) will be subject to strict limits on spectators for large events.The new restrictions doubtless come as a disappointment to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has been eager to showcase <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/eyes-on-the-prize/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Games</a> as a symbol of Japan’s ability to overcome the difficulties it has faced since the 2011 earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster.There now will be no roaring cheers at any of the races or other larger competitions. The festive mood in Tokyo has quickly evaporated, as has any hope of a boost to the local economy.True, a state of emergency in Japan is much softer than the lockdowns imposed in many Western countries over the past 16 months. People can still carry on with an almost-normal life of shopping and eating out, albeit with more restrictions on restaurants and large retailers’ hours of operation. But this is the fourth declaration of a pandemic state of emergency in Tokyo since April 2020, and restrictions on serving alcohol in restaurants have been added since the last one, because loud conversations without masks are a suspected source for Covid-19 cluster spreading.Although Suga’s government has “requested” that people eschew unnecessary travel and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/home-work-during-the-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">work from home</a> during the state of emergency, this admonition proved to be effective only during the first emergency in April-May 2020. Since then, the government has tried different approaches.Last autumn, for example, it actually encouraged people to travel by offering subsidies to stimulate the tourism industry. But, following a big surge of infections toward the end of 2020, a second state of emergency was imposed, from 8 January until 21 March, and that was soon followed a third, from 25 April to 20 June.These stop-and-go emergency declarations indicate either a lack of will or an inability to learn from previous episodes. The Japanese experience thus stands in stark contrast with that of New York, which was regarded as a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/himalayan-new-yorkers-tell-stories-of-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">global epicentre</a> of infections back in the spring of 2020. After maintaining an extended semi-lockdown, it was able to reopen gradually this year without backtracking.Not surprisingly, the Japanese public has become increasingly critical of the government for its inability to forecast and control infections, and there is growing frustration with the slow pace of the country’s vaccination rollout. The critics are right: the vaccination rate in Japan <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=OWID_WRL" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country%3DOWID_WRL&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627020210330000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFmg286Lmwq0AL9uiJzd22dpCLocQ">lags far behind</a> most other advanced economies.As of 11 July, Japan was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/global-solidarity-needs-intensive-care-in-pandemic-battle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">administering doses</a> at a rate of 49 for every 100 people, compared to 90 in France, 98 in Germany, 100 in the United States, and 119 in the United Kingdom. With television and YouTube images now showing the cheerful return to mask-free normal life in New York and other cities, many Japanese are envious.But the Japanese public has been divided between those demanding a cancellation of the entire Olympic-Paralympic Games and those (particularly in the restaurant business) objecting to strong restrictions on social and economic activities.Obviously, the government cannot satisfy both sides at once, so it has settled on the narrow middle path of holding the games without spectators.On the economic front, overall consumption has been dampened this year by the intermittent surges of infections in Tokyo and the stop-and-go emergency declarations. In April-June of this year, the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/nik?countrycode=jp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/nik?countrycode%3Djp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627020210330000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGFY7O2kwTl3nBu96sAr_yAlfG8qw">Nikkei 225</a> performed worse than any other major advanced-economy stock index.Given that a weak economy is always politically damaging to the ruling party, Suga is under immense pressure to achieve a strong reopening and recovery.But to have resumed the full range of economic activities, and ensure that the Games would be a festive affair, new infections needed to remain low. The only way to do that was to roll out vaccinations early and rapidly, as happened in New York.Although procurement has been accelerating, Japan was late to secure vaccines, and Japanese authorities have now <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/07/07/national/taro-kono-moderna-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/07/07/national/taro-kono-moderna-vaccines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627020210330000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEPQhJ0vK9pSn34sTtlOe3EK6nhvg">revealed</a> that as of the end of June, the country had received only 13.7 million of an expected 40 million Moderna vaccine doses.Whatever happens this summer, Suga will face a party leadership election in September, and then a general election before the end of the full term in October. As soon as the Olympic Games are over, Japan’s political games will begin.© Project SyndicateTakatoshi Ito, a former Japanese deputy vice minister of finance, is a professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and Senior Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.Photo:Takashi Aoyama / Project Syndicate

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Japan’s political games begin

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06a49c7e80680e0a5f75jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Nepali shooter Kalpana Pariyar was busy perfecting her aim at the Satdobato Shooting Range in Lalitpur on Saturday ahead of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/ring-in-the-old-in-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the 2020 Olympics</a> which begins later this month.The Tribhuvan Army Club’s shooter Pariyar is the first Nepali athlete to get a wildcard for the Tokyo event. She edged past Nepal champion and national record holder Sushmita Nepal in a 10m Air Rifle event held by the Nepal Olympic Committee and Nepal Shooting Association to earn her berth.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06a69c7e80680e0a5f76jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06a99c7e80680e0a5f77jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="641"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06ab9c7e80680e0a5f78jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06ae9c7e80680e0a5f79jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151112/636d06b09c7e80680e0a5f7ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="634"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151112/636d06b39c7e80680e0a5f7bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Along with Pariyar, swimmers Gaurika Singh and Alex Shah have been confirmed under the universal quota to represent Nepal in this summer’s Olympics.In judo, Soniya Bhatta has been selected as the wildcard for the 48kg event. Similarly, Saraswoti Chaudhary will be competing in women’s 100m under track and road races.The Tokyo Olympics will be held from 23 July to 8 August but will have no spectators. All 339 events in 33 sports will take place under the state of emergency as Tokyo and cites with venues report an increasing number of coronavirus cases caused by SARS-CoV-2 variants.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151112/636d06b69c7e80680e0a5f7cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Athletes are not required to vaccinate to travel to Tokyo and some big names such as the US swimmer Michael Andrew have publicly refused to inoculate fearing a last-minute reaction that would impact his game.The International Olympic Committee on the other hand has assured that some 70- 80% of the participants including the media will have been vaccinated.

Eyes on the prize

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0f34b0ad905ca02f041jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3264" height="2448"/><figcaption>Nepali archer training for the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: NEPAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE</figcaption></figure>As Nepal plunges headfirst into 2021, it is worth reflecting back on a year of cancelled, postponed, or improvised events. Weddings and graduations to cricket tournaments and international conferences, all had to be cancelled or put off.Visit Nepal 2020 was an early casualty to the pandemic, and the lockdown wrecked the tourism industry. But <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/2020s-tips-for-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">there is some cautious optimism</a> about numbers picking up in 2021.There were advantages to cancelled events, virtual exhibitions and festivals meant geography was no longer a barrier.Organisers are looking forward to holding these cancelled physical events in 2021:Sustainable SummitsDuring the 4th Sustainable Summits at Chamonix in France, Nepal won the contract to host the 5th edition of the international event in Kathmandu in 2020. It was slated for June and <a href="https://sustainablesummits2020.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">had to be postponed</a>. The organisers released a 50-minute video in which leaders and experts spoke about the impact of the climate crisis on the Himalaya.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0f74b0ad905ca02f042jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="933" height="1280"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The Sustainable Summits 2021 will now be held virtually as well as physically from 31 May to 4 June at ICIMOD headquarters in Kathmandu, just ahead of the Climate Summit COP26 in Glasgow. The Glasgow Summit was itself postponed and is a vital step to heal the planet.“The situation is getting more urgent with climate change, and the Himalaya is getting more and more focus because we're seeing the effects of glacial retreat and permafrost cracking underneath houses in Khumbu,” says Lisa Choegyal, who is part of the organising committee fo the four-day summit.“The fact that we’ve got COP26 coming up means Sustainable Summits has grown to being something that can make a global statement and achieve lasting change,” Choegyal says. “In a way, we’ve taken a step up to be global leaders as opposed to being a voice on the side.”One of the beneficial side-effects of the global pandemic is that global carbon emissions actually decreased in 2020 despite forest destruction that decreased land sinks for CO2.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0f94b0ad905ca02f043jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="360"><figcaption>Kathmandu Triennale 2017. Photos: SHRAJESH TULADHAR, GOPEN RAI and ANUJ ARORA</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0fa4b0ad905ca02f044jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0fc4b0ad905ca02f045jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Kathmandu TriennaleThe Siddhartha Art Foundation’s second <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/art-on-the-city-kathmandu-triennale,3607" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu Triennale</a> was supposed to be in 2020 and was supposed to explore multiple discourses on decolonisation, migration, indigenous knowledge.  It has been pushed to the second half of 2021, and will feature works from over 100 artists and collaborators from more than 40 countries.The Triennale will run for a month at multiple venues including the Nepal Art Council, The Taragaon Museum, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/patans-museum-piece/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Patan Museum</a>, The Chhauni Museum, Siddhartha Art Gallery, and the Bahadur Shah Baithak. The exhibitions will be curated by Cosmin Costinas of Para Site in Hong Kong, as well as Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung.“The Triennale format has enabled us to link with all the Biennale and Triennale happening around the world in 2021, and place Nepal on the global art map,” Sangeeta Thapa of the Siddhartha Art Foundation.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0fe4b0ad905ca02f046jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf1024b0ad905ca02f047jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Photo Kathmandu Nepal’s best known <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/photo-kathmandu-in-a-new-avatar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">photography festival</a> was supposed to happen in November, but will stretch out its 4th edition right through 2021 as opposed to previous month-long events. The shows and talks will mostly be virtual, and some of them have already begun. There will be physical exhibitions in 2021 if the pandemic tapers off.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf1044b0ad905ca02f048jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="351"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Film Festivals Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF) barely managed to be held February just as the pandemic was spreading. But other events such as the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/irena-taskovski-virtually-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pame Film Festival</a>, the National Human Rights International Film Festival (NHRIFF), and KIMFF went virtual during the tail end of 2020, which meant that a large number of viewers including the Nepali diaspora had access to participating Nepali films.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-postpones-international-events-as-fear-of-covid-19-intensifies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pokhara Film Society</a>, however, opted to wait out the pandemic and postponed it from March, well before the Covid lockdown began. Festival Director Santosh Sharma Sapkota says, “We are hoping to have the 5th edition physically in 2021 with virtual options for viewers who prefer it.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf1054b0ad905ca02f049jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1152" height="864"><figcaption>Nepali athletes train for the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: NEPAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE</figcaption></figure>Tokyo Olympics<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-tennis-shines-in-covid-times/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali athletes</a> were just gearing up for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics when it was  rescheduled for 23 July-8 August 2021. Fifteen Nepali athletes are training for archery, judo, tae kwon do, karate, shooting, weightlifting, swimming, and athletics. Of them, ten are in Kathmandu and three are in Pokhara, while two swimmers have been training in London.Chaturananda Raj Vaidhya of the Nepal Olympics Committee (NOC) told Nepali Times  the committee has constantly been in touch with the athletes virtually to ensure that their training and nutrition needs were being met.  Although training was scaled-back during the lockdown, athletes are now back to full-fledged schedules.2020 saw many sports institutions and teams across the world adopt bio-bubbles to restrict players’ exposure to the coronavirus.  Nepali athletes are also in closed training camps. “The International Olympics Committee has informed us that all participating Olympians will be vaccinated for free in the event that any coronavirus vaccine is approved,” Vaidhya explains. "In the meantime, we are following all safety protocols.”

Ring in the old in 2021

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea0f9c7e80680e0878f8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3264" height="2448"/><figcaption>Nepali archer training for the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: NEPAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE</figcaption></figure>As Nepal plunges headfirst into 2021, it is worth reflecting back on a year of cancelled, postponed, or improvised events. Weddings and graduations to cricket tournaments and international conferences, all had to be cancelled or put off.Visit Nepal 2020 was an early casualty to the pandemic, and the lockdown wrecked the tourism industry. But <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/2020s-tips-for-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">there is some cautious optimism</a> about numbers picking up in 2021.There were advantages to cancelled events, virtual exhibitions and festivals meant geography was no longer a barrier.Organisers are looking forward to holding these cancelled physical events in 2021:Sustainable SummitsDuring the 4th Sustainable Summits at Chamonix in France, Nepal won the contract to host the 5th edition of the international event in Kathmandu in 2020. It was slated for June and <a href="https://sustainablesummits2020.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">had to be postponed</a>. The organisers released a 50-minute video in which leaders and experts spoke about the impact of the climate crisis on the Himalaya.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea129c7e80680e0878f9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="933" height="1280"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Sustainable Summits 2021 will now be held virtually as well as physically from 31 May to 4 June at ICIMOD headquarters in Kathmandu, just ahead of the Climate Summit COP26 in Glasgow. The Glasgow Summit was itself postponed and is a vital step to heal the planet.“The situation is getting more urgent with climate change, and the Himalaya is getting more and more focus because we're seeing the effects of glacial retreat and permafrost cracking underneath houses in Khumbu,” says Lisa Choegyal, who is part of the organising committee fo the four-day summit.“The fact that we’ve got COP26 coming up means Sustainable Summits has grown to being something that can make a global statement and achieve lasting change,” Choegyal says. “In a way, we’ve taken a step up to be global leaders as opposed to being a voice on the side.”One of the beneficial side-effects of the global pandemic is that global carbon emissions actually decreased in 2020 despite forest destruction that decreased land sinks for CO2.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea159c7e80680e0878fajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="360"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea179c7e80680e0878fbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea1a9c7e80680e0878fcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Kathmandu TriennaleThe Siddhartha Art Foundation’s second <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/art-on-the-city-kathmandu-triennale,3607" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu Triennale</a> was supposed to be in 2020 and was supposed to explore multiple discourses on decolonisation, migration, indigenous knowledge.  It has been pushed to the second half of 2021, and will feature works from over 100 artists and collaborators from more than 40 countries.The Triennale will run for a month at multiple venues including the Nepal Art Council, The Taragaon Museum, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/patans-museum-piece/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Patan Museum</a>, The Chhauni Museum, Siddhartha Art Gallery, and the Bahadur Shah Baithak. The exhibitions will be curated by Cosmin Costinas of Para Site in Hong Kong, as well as Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung.“The Triennale format has enabled us to link with all the Biennale and Triennale happening around the world in 2021, and place Nepal on the global art map,” Sangeeta Thapa of the Siddhartha Art Foundation.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea1c9c7e80680e0878fdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea209c7e80680e0878fejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Photo Kathmandu Nepal’s best known <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/photo-kathmandu-in-a-new-avatar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">photography festival</a> was supposed to happen in November, but will stretch out its 4th edition right through 2021 as opposed to previous month-long events. The shows and talks will mostly be virtual, and some of them have already begun. There will be physical exhibitions in 2021 if the pandemic tapers off.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea229c7e80680e0878ffjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="351"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Film Festivals Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF) barely managed to be held February just as the pandemic was spreading. But other events such as the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/irena-taskovski-virtually-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pame Film Festival</a>, the National Human Rights International Film Festival (NHRIFF), and KIMFF went virtual during the tail end of 2020, which meant that a large number of viewers including the Nepali diaspora had access to participating Nepali films.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-postpones-international-events-as-fear-of-covid-19-intensifies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pokhara Film Society</a>, however, opted to wait out the pandemic and postponed it from March, well before the Covid lockdown began. Festival Director Santosh Sharma Sapkota says, “We are hoping to have the 5th edition physically in 2021 with virtual options for viewers who prefer it.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea249c7e80680e087900jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1152" height="864"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Tokyo Olympics<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-tennis-shines-in-covid-times/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali athletes</a> were just gearing up for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics when it was  rescheduled for 23 July-8 August 2021. Fifteen Nepali athletes are training for archery, judo, tae kwon do, karate, shooting, weightlifting, swimming, and athletics. Of them, ten are in Kathmandu and three are in Pokhara, while two swimmers have been training in London.Chaturananda Raj Vaidhya of the Nepal Olympics Committee (NOC) told Nepali Times  the committee has constantly been in touch with the athletes virtually to ensure that their training and nutrition needs were being met.  Although training was scaled-back during the lockdown, athletes are now back to full-fledged schedules.2020 saw many sports institutions and teams across the world adopt bio-bubbles to restrict players’ exposure to the coronavirus.  Nepali athletes are also in closed training camps. “The International Olympics Committee has informed us that all participating Olympians will be vaccinated for free in the event that any coronavirus vaccine is approved,” Vaidhya explains. "In the meantime, we are following all safety protocols.”