As the Tokyo Games begin, the stakes could not be higher for Japan — and the Olympics themselves
- Written by Jack Anderson, Professor of Sports Law, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne

History shows there nothing in sport quite like an Olympics. Equally, there is nothing in Olympic history quite like what is happening now in Tokyo at the most expensive — and likely the most fraught — summer games of all time.
When Tokyo bid for the games a decade ago, many of the political elite saw the Olympics as...