‘Claims could run into billions’: the interests at stake if Olympics in Japan were cancelled

IOC officials have avoided any mention of the commercial forces driving the Tokyo Games towards their 23 July opening date

The least divisive statement in the saga surrounding Tokyo 2020 - assuming, as many people now do, that it will happen in just over 40 days' time - is that it will be an Olympics like no other.

Overseas fans have been banned; athletes will spend what for many will be the pinnacle of their career sealed off from the outside world; GPS-tracked journalists hoping to escape their hotel rooms for a late-night fix of ramen risk being put on the next flight home.