What would Avery Ice Age have made of the Tokyo Olympics?

Avery Brundage was known to his enemies as Avery Ice Age — and to quite a few of his friends too, I would imagine. He was a man of ‘dictatorial temperament’, according to one of his critics. A wealthy American, Brundage brought his ultra-conservative outlook to bear on the Olympics, which he bossed from 1952-72. He was, another critic said, bent on ‘insulating the Games from the meddlesome tentacles of the real world’.

He was particularly keen on the idea of amateurism, regardless (or maybe because) of the fact that the amateur ideal was the brainchild of the English aristocracy that ensured they didn’t have to compete against the lower orders. As far as old Ice Age was concerned you came from your lecture hall, office or hospital round, swapped your pinstripes for a pair of shorts and went out to have a crack at breaking the world record.

What he would have made of the spectacular brilliance of events in Tokyo at the moment, heaven alone knows. It is as far removed from what Brundage had in mind as a skateboard is from a penny-farthing bicycle.

Powerful cases were made on either side about whether the Games should go ahead against a background of rising Covid cases and deaths in Japan. But they have just got better and better, and no one can fail to be impressed by the determination and resilience of athletes who have trained in isolation and are now competing in these taxing circumstances. Their unflinching striving for excellence amid the encircling negativity makes us all awestruck. Maybe even old Ice Age would have melted at the spectacle.