I'm Carl Azuz, thank you for watching.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a lot of problems for these Games.

They're still called the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but while they were originally scheduled to start on July 24th of last year, they've been postponed until July 23rd of this summer, with the Paralympics scheduled to begin on August 24th.

The Olympic Organizing Committee just announced over the weekend that spectators from other countries will not be allowed.

People who already bought tickets will get their money back, and it's not clear yet how many people from Japan will be able to attend the Games.

The reason for the new restriction, according to the International Olympic and Paralympic Committees, is that the international COVID situation is still very challenging and that international travel is still severely restricted.

Organizers say the decision will help keep the Games safe and secure, but it could hurt Japan economically without the visits and spending by international tourists that usually benefit Olympic hosts.

The decision to delay the Games has already taken a toll on some athletes, though others are grateful for the extra training time.

Olympic fencer Ryo Miyake took up a new job last year, delivering food for Uber Eats to make extra cash and stay in shape during the pandemic.

His training stopped for several months after Tokyo announced the postponement of the Olympics.

He's since resumed practice, but the physical and mental challenges remain.

[Japanese] It's like running a full marathon for four years.

[Japanese] Adding another year is like, we have to keep on running before reaching the goal.

With the Olympic Games just months away, it's still unclear how Japan plans to hold the Games safely.

While the Japanese government has vowed the Games will go ahead, a poll in January by public broadcaster NHK found that 77% of people in Japan think the Games should be canceled or further postponed.

[Japanese] I think it's quite risky to hold the Olympics in Japan at this stage, but I think all athletes understand that safety is the first priority and I don't think there are any athletes who want to compete in the Olympics no matter what.

At stake are tens of billions of dollars and Japan's national pride.

But for athletes, a lifetime of dedication hangs in balance, as does their mental well-being.

And we've started to see more and more Olympic athletes and aspiring Olympic athletes coming through our support system, and having to put yourself through not only the level of training that these athletes are working at 6, 7 days a week, but also to stay as mentally hungry and driven.

And trying to reach a goal that isn't yet actually finalized and fixed at a set date and time is really, really tough.

And eventually, that will take its toll on the mental health of these... of these Olympians.

But sport climber Akiyo Noguchi was happy to have an extra year of practice.

She was planning to retire after the Tokyo 2020 Games when sport climbing was supposed to make its Olympic debut.

She's pushed back her retirement by one year in order to make the Olympics the last competition of her career.

10-second trivia: Which of these nations is estimated to have the highest literacy rate?

China, Slovenia, Malta, or South Africa?

The US Central Intelligence Agency estimates that Slovenia has the highest literacy rate on this list, at 99.7%.

When COVID hit, so many charities and non-profit organizations found themselves in the same boat.

How do they continue helping people when in-person interactions are limited?

Like a lot of schools out there, a group called Eye to Eye went virtual.

That way, it could keep connecting students who have learning disabilities or students who learn differently with mentors who share their struggles.

The organization's founder, David Flink, is a CNN hero.

When people think about me, it's like, that, I can't talk right or, like, I'm dumb.

No, I'm just unique in my own ways.

Everybody is unique in their own ways, if you think about it.

I remember, fondly, really loving school, and that feeling ended probably first or second grade.

I didn't know that I have dyslexia.

I didn't know, but I had ADHD.

And I could either be the dumb kid or I could be the bad kid.

Instead of sitting there and feeling dumb, I just started acting out.

And they would say, "Dave, we think it would be best for you—and all of us—if you went to the hallway to finish that assignment."

At one point, literally, my desk was moved to the hallway.

Had this message sent to me that I didn't belong in the classroom.

But there was a guy in the school [who] cleaned the floors, and the timing of me being outside the classroom and him, like, cleaning the hallway—

There was a lot of time together, when Jim the janitor just stopped to talk to me.

It was probably the most human experience I can remember at that point in my life.

It was just a kind person that saved me.

I felt like people had invested in me.

Despite challenges, I made it.

And I went on to Colombia to get a graduate degree in education because I wanted to help make school better for kids.

I struggle a ton with spelling.

- Do you have any of that or is that not...　- Yeah, I don't like the spelling.

Fifty percent of students in high school, if you have a learning disability, end up in the juvenile justice system.

Where do we want our students to end up: in prison or contributing members of society?

I had a responsibility to go give back.

Today's project is the utility belt, so we're gonna be thinking of things that help us in the classroom and out of the classroom.

Check out some art supplies.

Eye to Eye is a national program that matches college and high school students who have all types of learning disabilities with young people of all types of learning disabilities.

We have 150 chapters in 23 states now.

- Drawing, tell me about drawing.　- Basically, it builds up my confidence.

You just know that about yourself. That's great.

Eye to Eye provides a safe space that's constructed around what's right with kids so they can talk about their experiences.

So you get distracted easily? What else, like, gets in your way or is tough for you to overcome?

We use art as a way to help facilitate that conversation.

Middle school is really where kids, they have the maturity to say, "Hey, this is how my brain works, and I can ask for that thing."

Okay, so our goal is to get to the moon.

What's, like, a goal you have in real life?

I definitely click more with the girls in the room that are a little bit reserved and shy.

- You could do it like this and have the thing like this.　- I like that idea.

Learning differences manifest in different ways.

But for me, I was definitely, really, like, ashamed of it.

And that kind of led to just me being super self-conscious and shy.

I, like, see that in those girls a little bit.

They're not the ones to volunteer to present first, ever, but towards the end, they're dragging me up to the front of the room to present with them.

So, it's nice to see that.

I love it when I hear that there are kids who are struggling academically and now their grades are going up.

But when I hear that because they were in Eye to Eye, they now understand somebody else's experience better—is different than them.

And this is what we need in America.

You have to love each other across our difference.

What about social studies you like?

- I know all the presidents.　- You know all the presidents?

That's like a superpower.

Something is going very right in the school.

My moment that I am wishing for is when the problem of stigmatizing kids because they learn differently goes away.

I want them to know that their brains are beautiful.

I want them to leave feeling like they know how to ask for what they need and that they can do it, and that's what we give them.

Danny Griffiths is a surfer who lost his favorite surfboard in 2017.

At the time, he was on a monstrous wave near the Australian island of Tasmania.

He had to jump off as the wave closed down, and despite looking for hours, his group never found the board.

A year and a half later, two fishermen picked up the surfboard in Australian waters about 1,700 miles away from where Griffiths lost it.

They held on to it, and they recently returned it to Griffiths after word finally reached him that his long-lost board was rescued at sea.

Well, that's our wrap on current events.

It's amazing how they're shaped by time and tide, as we drift around the globe trying to keep you on the crest of everything we've got on deck from nose to tail.

Hopefully, you didn't find anything too "boarding" because surf's back up tomorrow and we hope you'll hang CNN 10 with us again then.

West Caldwell High School is in Lenoir, North Carolina.

It gets today's shout-out because folks there subscribed and commented on our YouTube channel.

I'm Carl Azuz.