For sports fans who have be come accustomed since early last year to watching televised sport in empty stadiums, news that the Tokyo Olympic Games may take place without spectators because of the COVID-19 threat will have come as no great surprise.

And the great majority will feel that if that’s what is required for the Olympics to happen, then so be it.

Readers will recall that the Olympic Games were postponed from last year because of the pandemic.

Asked this week whether the Olympics could possibly take place without fans, head of the International Olympic Committee Mr Thomas Bach responded: “This I cannot tell you… Our priority is to ensure safe Olympic Games, and we will do whatever is needed to organise safe Olympic Games.”

This newspaper is left with no choice but to take him at his word that: “We are fully concentrated on and committed to the successful and safe delivery of the Olympic and Paralympic Games…”

Mr Bach’s words will be soothing for athletes all over the world who continue to train and make great sacrifices, even outside of competition, in a bid to get themselves ready for the summer Games.

Locally, we note indicators that, despite the continuing surge in COVID-19 cases, the Jamaican Government is responding to strong lobbying from the sporting fraternity to such an extent that organised activities, on a limited scale and without spectators, is not far away.

That, of course, is outside of horse racing, which has been ongoing for months, and which we dare not forget is not just sport, but also big business.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness told Parliament earlier this week that reopening of sporting competition will happen under very strict conditions.

Said he: “This is not a widescale return of sport. We have to, first of all, go through a process where we look at each sporting event and what they require and the specific public health protocol that can be put in place to ensure they are safe…”

And further, that “Each sporting event (organiser) will have to apply for approval… so they have to go through the Ministry of Local Government, work with the minister of sports, as their advocate, and the minister of health to put together a package”.

In other words, it won’t be easy. Those sporting associations, with the highest perceived levels of organisation, will most likely find themselves at, or close, to the front of the queue.

There is plenty of talk that within a matter of weeks the local football premier league will get going in a much shorter and tighter format than previously. And that the iconic Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships could take place in March or May.

Much has been said about the importance of a return to organised activity across a wide range of sporting disciplines.

However, the threat posed by COVID-19 requires that administrators, event organisers, coaches, etc, will have to bring levels of attention to detail and meticulous execution to their work, like never before, in order to ensure safety.

At bottom line, it must not be said that a resumption of organised sport across disciplines endangers participants and the wider population.