The question was asked on a morning radio talk show yesterday whether these Tokyo Olympic Games were a flop or not. Most of those answering the question said they were not, but those who disagreed were almost as many.

So what say you, reader? Have these “Covid” Games lived up to expectations or have they been underwhelming?

If you go by what the athletes have produced, you would have to say Tokyo has already been tops, with four days to go.

How could anyone give the thumbs down to Karsten Warholm of Norway after he obliterated his own world record in the 400 metres hurdles to speed to the gold medal?

Superlatives are easy to throw out in real time. But to watch Warholm repel the challenge of Rai Benjamin – the son of former West Indies cricketer Winston Benjamin – and become the first man ever to go below 46 seconds in the hurdles was astounding.

And despite Michelle-Lee Ahye not making the women’s 200m final, who could seriously steups at a Games where Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah silenced her doubters by becoming the first wo_man to successfully defend her 100 metres and 200 metres Olympic titles? That is Usain Bolt-like.

Then there is Sifan Hassan – the Ethiopian sent to the Netherlands as a teenager by her mother – trying for unprecedented golds in the 1,500 metres, 5,000 and 10,000 metres.

Well, the 5,000 metres is in the bag, and how she pouched it!

Her gold-medal run came a mere 11 hours after she picked herself up from a scary fall on the final lap of her 1,500-metre heat to not only finish that race – but win it as well. That’s heroic. And speaking of heroines, for all her mental health struggles in Tokyo, Simone Biles is still leaving with an Olympic medal. Her balance beam bronze made her the most-decorated American gymnast (seven) along with Shannon Miller.

Meanwhile, high jumpers Gian_marco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Barshim of Qatar produced a gesture of sportsmanship that was most noteworthy.

They found themselves in a situation they’d talked about but never experienced – being tied for the gold.

Both men were perfect until the bar was set to the Olympic-record height of seven feet, ten inches. Each missed three times.

They could have gone to a jump-off, but instead decided to share the gold.

“I know for a fact that for the performance I did, I deserve that gold. He did the same thing, so I know he deserved that gold,” Barshim said. “This is beyond sport. This is the message we deliver to the young generation.”

The people of Bermuda who got their first-__ever gold medal through triathlete Flora Duffy will certainly also not have anything negative to say about the Games.

Those are just some of the feats that spring immediately to mind; the stuff of which all Olympics are made.

But the various competitions in Tokyo are just part of this Olympics story. There is a parallel, not-so-inspiring tale: the Covid-19 tale.

The relentless virus has robbed a number of athletes of the chance to go for medals, even after they made it to Tokyo. American pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, a certain medal contender, was ruled out by a positive test. Another vaulter, Germ‡n Chiaraviglio of Argentina, had the same experience. Those are just a few of the cases of athletes and officials whose Olympics experience has turned into a nightmare.

It cannot also be forgotten that Covid has also cast a shadow over the Trinidad and Tobago contingent.

Even before the Games began, one official was ruled out. And then last week, long jumper Andwuelle Wright and hurdler Sparkle McKnight had their chance to compete snatched away because of positive tests. Now, they must be isolated from everyone else in a foreign land and must worry about their health, rather than concentrating on the opportunity they had been preparing for, for months and years.

Injury and mishap are part and parcel of the life of sportsmen and women. But all those who went to Tokyo were placed in an abnormal situation.

Covid-19 is an enemy against which there is no fool-proof defence. And by insisting on staging the Games now and in a country ravaged by the pandemic, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was inviting trouble for an untold number of people – persons like Wright, McKnight and coach Wendell Williams. Folks like them are part of a statistic that president Thomas Bach and his IOC think-tank must have calculated they would have.

But how unfair it is for those who have to pay the price for such calculation. Sometimes, people have to be saved from themselves for their own good. Few athletes with a chance at competing on their biggest stage would turn down the opportunity.

But when the flame lit by Naomi Osaka on July 23 finally goes out in Tokyo on Sunday, those Covid casualties will be quickly forgotten.

They certainly will not be doing any flips of delight over having gone to Japan. For them, the trip was indeed a huge IOC flop.

– garth.wattley@trinidadexpress.com