Indonesia is one, and England - which at the time of writing is preparing to reopen even while thousands of people are being infected every day with the virus - is another.

But as tricky situations go, there's no country we should be rooting for more this week than Japan, which is just days away from hosting the Olympics.

It seems incredible to think the Games are still going ahead, with thousands of Japanese still testing positive to the virus each week.

But while there will be no spectators or crowds at this most historic of Olympics, the Games will have no less importance for the thousands of athletes from around the world who have been looking forward to competing.

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Anyone who has ever had any connection with an aspiring Olympian will understand how important the Games are to them.

For a generation of athletes, Tokyo has been, for years, a beacon, a symbol, an endpoint, a goal, an aspiration, a dream.

Elite athletes like Nick Kyrgios can comfortably choose not to attend, citing concerns about the rampant infection numbers, and the thought of playing with no spectators. But someone like Kygrios, for example, has many more events to work towards, and just as many already behind him. For him, the Olympics are just one more competition.

Not so a sprinter from Laos, a wrestler from Estonia or even the skateboarder from Australia; many athletes have been working towards these Games for their entire sporting career and may never have another chance.

And now that it's finally arrived, it's time to get excited (if we aren't already), both on behalf of our athletes, but also as a sport-loving nation.

And we should also be rooting for Japan, as they undertake an event that is a matter of national pride.

The Olympics are obviously costly and risky for any country that wins the rights to host the Games, but pre-Covid, Japan was already in a better position than most.

With top-notch infrastructure already in place, and a proud Olympic legacy, Japan's stint as host country could well have been seamless, and a raging success.

But no country can really be a match for a global pandemic; there comes a point for event organisers, both large and small, to make a decision to forge on, or cancel the whole thing.

Tokyo had already come too far to write off the Games, and while the past months have been increasingly challenging, as the opening ceremony draws nearer, it's a good time to start cheering.

This should be a time of national pride for Japan, a ray of light in a difficult year for almost every country in the world.

Meanwhile, here in Australia, we have every reason to find optimism and hope in the Tokyo Games. At the very least, we can watch the events almost in real time, thanks to the minimal time difference between Japan and the eastern states.

This has, in many ways, been a year in which the world has felt more unified than ever before, with most countries battling the same enemy. It will be refreshing for us to take the chance to celebrate, rather than commiserate.

Australia is also tipped, unsurprisingly, to fare exceptionally well in the medal tally.

But regardless of how well we do, there should be no event more unifying than the Olympics.

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