THE sporting world staggered into 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic raged and while it would be a stretch to say it is finishing the year with a sprint, a sense of normality has returned despite the lingering threat of the virus.
Regardless of what the doom-mongers and the thousands of people in Japan bitterly opposed to staging the delayed 2020 Olympics said, the Games went ahead, even if they looked and felt very different to any previous edition.
Soccer stadiums that had fallen silent around the world were once again brimming with cheering fans, Wimbledon's Centre Court sprang back to life as the world's most iconic tennis event returned after a year's absence and crowds walked the fairways as hostilities were resumed in golf's Ryder Cup.
The action came thick and fast as the narrative switched from COVID-19 decimation of events to athletic achievement and, unfortunately, the more unedifying underbelly of sport -- greed, politics, discrimination and doping.
When, in March last year, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics became the first Games to be cancelled for reasons other than war, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) predicted its staging a year late would become a "beacon of hope" for the human race after so much of normal life was brought to a standstill.
Yet by the time tennis player Naomi Osaka lit the flame on July 23, Tokyo was still under emergency COVID measures and 70% of the Japanese public were opposed to the Games.
Spectators were barred from Tokyo venues and athletes had to abide by draconian rules in a 33-page 'playbook' -- making normal Olympic Village life impossible.
It speaks volumes for their skill and dedication, however, that the 11,000 or so competitors at the Olympics and the 4,500 at the Paralympics, made sport a shining light in the gloom.
TV fans around the globe marvelled as new dynamic sports such as skateboarding, freestyle BMX, speed climbing and surfing brought new plot lines to their living rooms.
While the moment high jumpers Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Italian Gianmarco Tamberi agreed to share gold at the end of a thrilling competition in which they could not be separated -- would have even had the cynics going misty-eyed.
NEW VARIANT
No sooner had the flame been extinguished in Tokyo, however, than a Winter Olympics loomed under the deepening shadow of a new COVID-19 variant and politics with a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing showpiece gaining traction.
While no fans were present in Tokyo, crowds did return throughout the year elsewhere.
Although it was by no means a smooth process.
The fragility of the situation revealed itself at the delayed Australian Open tennis in February when fans were banned for five days mid-tournament after Melbourne's snap lockdown while last month the Davis Cup Finals ties in Vienna went ahead without fans after surging infections.
Europe's big soccer leagues were played largely without fans in the 2020-21 season, punching a hole in clubs' balance sheets with Barcelona blaming the pandemic for losses of 481 million euros ($543 million) in the financial year.
The year's second-largest event, the delayed Euro 2020 soccer championship, went ahead across 11 host cities from Baku to Seville as mainly modest crowds watched the group games with various COVID-19 restrictions in place.
But on a rainy night in London on July 11, 67,000 fans packed into Wembley with tens of thousands more outside as England took on Italy in the final.
What should have been a celebratory night turned sour, however, as the pent-up emotions of England's long wait to reach a final and more than a year of lockdowns exploded into scenes of alcohol-fuelled mayhem described in a report this month as a day of national shame.
And as a cautionary tale, the final in which Italy beat England on penalties was shown later to have been a "superspreader" of COVID-19 with data suggesting more than 5,000 people were infected in and around Wembley Stadium.
The year ended with society, and sport, tackling a worrying new COVID variant and sports bodies will be watching anxiously over the next few weeks as the virus refuses to be beaten.
Reuters
Mon Dec 13 2021
A staff member cleans the floor over the Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo, Tokyo, Japan, August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
India akan belanja US$1.2 bilion dalam tujuh tahun bagi kurangkan import minyak makan
Kerajaan India pada Khamis meluluskan inisiatif untuk meningkatkan minyak bijian domestik kepada 69.7 juta tan menjelang 2030-31.
Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi minta IPT buat persediaan hadapi banjir
Beliau yakin IPT di kawasan sering terjejas banjir seperti di pantai timur mempunyai keupayaan terbaik untuk berbuat demikian.
Lebih 16,000 anggota JBPM dalam mod siap siaga hadapi banjir lebih awal
Perbezaan pada trend taburan hujan lebat tahun ini menyebabkan bomba terpaksa meletakkan semua anggota dalam mod berjaga-jaga lebih awal.
Shamsul Iskandar dakwa kesepakatan parti dalam PN kian longgar
Shamsul Iskandar berkata, perpecahan dalaman PN itu dapat diukur melalui prestasi mereka pada PRK DUN Nenggiri dan DUN Mahkota.
Suruhanjaya Eropah saman Hungary atas dakwaan pelanggaran hak asasi
Budapest gagal hilangkan kebimbangan mengenai undang-undang baharu Hungary yang bertujuan mengehadkan pembiayaan asing bagi kempen politik.
PM Pakistan gembira atas perbincangan produktif dengan PM Malaysia
Bidang-bidang utama itu termasuk perdagangan, IT, tenaga, pertanian, eksport daging halal, pelancongan, pendidikan dan pertahanan.
Rwanda catat 7 lagi kes virus Marburg dan satu lagi kematian
Rwanda mencatatkan tujuh kes baharu penyakit virus Marburg dan satu lagi kematian.
Menurut angka terkini yang dikeluarkan lewat Rabu Kementerian Kesihatan Rwanda,
jumlah keseluruhan jangkitan virus Marburg sejak wabak bermula kini sebanyak 36 kes, dengan 11 kematian dilaporkan setakat ini.
Menurut angka terkini yang dikeluarkan lewat Rabu Kementerian Kesihatan Rwanda,
jumlah keseluruhan jangkitan virus Marburg sejak wabak bermula kini sebanyak 36 kes, dengan 11 kematian dilaporkan setakat ini.
Lebih 140 sekolah UNRWA diserang sejak 7 Oktober
Lebih 140 sekolah UNRWA diserang sejak 7 Oktober dalam keadaan dimana penduduk Gaza berlindung di bawah naungan PBB.
Perkara itu dimaklumkan Pesuruhjaya Agung Agensi Bantuan dan Kerja Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu untuk Pelarian Palestin (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini dalam satu hantaran di X.
Perkara itu dimaklumkan Pesuruhjaya Agung Agensi Bantuan dan Kerja Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu untuk Pelarian Palestin (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini dalam satu hantaran di X.
28 petugas dilapor maut dalam tempoh 24 jam lalu di Lubnan
28 petugas kesihatan dilaporkan terbunuh dalam tempoh 24 jam lalu di Lubnan.
Perkara itu dimaklumkan Ketua Pengarah Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pada Khamis.
Perkara itu dimaklumkan Ketua Pengarah Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pada Khamis.
UNIFIL kekal pada posisi walaupun didesak berundur
Pasukan pengaman PBB di selatan Lubnan terus bertahan pada kedudukan mereka, di bawah mandat UNSC, walaupun diarah Israel untuk berundur.
Rai ulang tahun ke-125, alumni Convent Bukit Nanas anjur majlis makan malam 2 November
Sejak pandemik COVID-19 bermula, Persatuan Alumni Convent Bukit Nanas (CBN) memulakan inisiatif memberi sokongan kepada pelajar terkesan dengan melancarkan program bantuan untuk pelajar B40.
Felda mahu pupuk hubungan perniagaan Malaysia dan Indonesia
Felda bersedia untuk menghubungkan syarikat Malaysia, khususnya unit perniagaannya dengan firma dalam KEIND untuk meneroka peluang baharu di kedua-dua negara dan antarabangsa.
COVID-19 jejas kemajuan dalam mengurangi kemiskinan - KRI
Kemiskinan mutlak meningkat dari 2019 hingga 2022, terutamanya dalam kalangan isi rumah bandar, menokok kepada 4.5 peratus menjelang 2022 berbanding hanya 3.8 peratus pada 2019.
Invest Malaysia Iskandar 2024: Gerbang pertumbuhan ekonomi Asia Tenggara
Menjelang Invest Malaysia Iskandar 2024 esok, jangkaan semakin meningkat untuk acara penting ini yang telah meletakkan kedudukannya sebagai platform utama dalam membentuk masa depan pelaburan.
Perintah Mahkamah Majistret halang Siti Kasim daripada perhimpunan 2022 adalah sah
Hakim memutuskan perintah itu dikeluarkan untuk mengawal atau mencegah penyebaran virus COVID-19 pada masa itu.
Amazon arahkan pekerja kembali bekerja di pejabat lima hari seminggu
Pekerja Amazon diarah kembali bekerja sepenuh masa di pejabat, dengan menekankan kepentingan bekerja secara bersemuka.
Makanan tradisional Bajau Seri Semporna ubati kerinduan perantau
Meskipun nasib tidak menyebelahi Azreena apabila terpaksa menutup restoran ketika musim pandemik, setahun kemudian mereka mampu bangkit kembali.
Pesta Air Kuala Perlis medium rapatkan hubungan masyarakat
Pesta Air Kuala Perlis antara acara tradisi di Perlis sejak tahun 50-an, kini kembali selepas kali terakhir dianjurkan pada 2019.
MyPELINDUNG 2024: Jamin kehidupan selamat bersama COVID-19
Kempen MyPELINDUNG 2024 terus membantu rakyat Malaysia untuk menyesuaikan diri dengan norma baharu.
Konsulat Malaysia di Pontianak anjur majlis resepsi Hari Kebangsaan ke-67
Konsulat Malaysia di Pontianak, Kalimantan Barat mengadakan majlis resepsi Hari Kebangsaan ke-67 pada malam Sabtu yang dihadiri 300 tetamu termasuk Pemangku Gabenor Kalimantan Barat, Harisson dan iste