Two weeks to go and the Tokyo Olympics finally raises the curtains on what is regarded as the world's greatest sporting showcase. Barring any last-minute decision by organizers to postpone it again or cancel it altogether, let's hope for its opening on July 23 for the world's best athletes to be able to fulfill their dreams on the track, the pool, the mat, the court and the field.

Anything other than a usually spectacular program to usher in the first Olympiad in the time of a pandemic would be a big disappointment for Filipino athletes who have qualified for various events and who had trained under stressful conditions, such as not knowing if the quadrennial event would take place at all or realizing that what they live for as world-class weightlifters or pole-vault specialists has been crushed by Covid-19.