On Thursday, it was confirmed that the Tokyo Olympics would take place behind closed doors. The Games will go ahead, despite reservations from many people in Tokyo. They will take place in a country where most people are not vaccinated and it will, in many ways, be a faint and anaemic version of the Olympics. We have seen in the European Championships the transformative effect of crowds and the Olympics will seem vast and soulless without them. For the competitors, a lifetime’s goal will now be nothing like they imagined. James Fitzgerald will be one of those at the Olympics.…

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