The Games had already been postponed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the delayed edition faced a lot of opposition in Japan.

Anti-Olympic protesters gathered outside venues, notably at the Opening Ceremony on July 23 and the men’s singles tennis on August 1.

The majority of events were held without spectators, with Tokyo as well as the surrounding prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba placed under a state of emergency.  

Japan has recorded a rise in COVID-19 figures, with last Friday (August 13) seeing Tokyo post a record 5,773 daily cases and Japan as a whole top 20,000 infections for the first time.

Today also saw Tokyo’s state of emergency extended until September 12 and further restrictions introduced in other areas of the country.

According to International Olympic Committee (IOC) statistics, 567 positive cases have been recorded in connection with the Games, and in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Eriksen said the opposition to the Olympics was palpable during his stay.

"No question about it," Eriksen affirmed.

"You had obviously a very high percentage - which was 65-plus, 70 per cent - that did not want outsiders coming to the country in a state of emergency.

"You think about the amount of people inside the village that brought COVID in.

"And whatever the ramifications are going to be over the next month, month and a half, from people that were working there that got the [delta] variant even if they were vaccinated.

"So those are the questions that are coming up, but I do know right now that the Prime Minister of Japan is not a very popular person."

Eriksen described the impact of isolation on travelling players and staff as "tremendous", and admitted that the restrictions on international visitors, including requirements on limiting social contact, strict rules on leaving the Athletes’ Village and prompt departures from Japan, had left him doubting whether the Games should have gone ahead at all.

"That’s a question that I think I keep asking myself," he said.

"And to me, when I keep asking myself that question, I keep trying to come up with the reasons that it was played.

"Money keeps coming to the top of the reasoning why it was played.

"Common sense seems to have been put to the wayside of that.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of athletes, but at what cost was it in the mental-stress parts of it, and also in the health aspect of it?

"I think I’ll probably over the next 15, 20, 25 years keeping asking was it worth it for that?

"I will tell you this once again, and not to belittle any aspects of how great world competition is, but it was a lot different than 2004, which was so enthusiastic, so energy-wise.

"This was very, very tedious and really a mental strain on a lot of people."

The US softball coach said that restrictions on training made preparations for games very different, and his players had found their stay "pretty tedious."

"There was no opportunity to blow off steam, there was no opportunity to get away from being under lock and key in the village," said Eriksen.

"You weren’t able to eat outside your village at all, you weren’t able to go to certain places when you were in the village.

"And those people that stayed in the periphery hotels had to be confined kind of to the hotel areas."

The US lost 2-0 to Japan in the softball final in Yokohama.

The sport, along with baseball, was appearing at the Games for the first time since Beijing 2008, although for now this is a one-off return.