In this case in particular, what started as mostly a joke got fueled by the cost paid for postponing the event, coupled with the eventual penalties that would apply if the event was canceled altogether.

There was a heated moment the first time the gov had to decide wether to swallow the sunk costs and just cancel everything, or only postpone, hoping the situation would be better after a few months.

The first set of damages have already be paid, so now whatever the course of events, Olympics will be a pretty bitter subject for most people I think.

Edit: postponing was not penalties per se, more contracting and maintenance costs. Fixed the wording,