TOKYO: International spectators will not be allowed to enter Japan for this summer’s Olympic Games amid public concerns over coronavirus, setting the stage for a drastically scaled-back event.
Around 600,000 Olympic tickets purchased by overseas residents will be refunded, as will another 300,000 Paralympic tickets, Toshiro Muto, the chief executive of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee told a news conference.
The Olympic Games were postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The organisers and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga have vowed to press ahead with the Games, now scheduled to take place on July 23-August 8, with the Paralympics on August 24-September 5.
The decision on international spectators will “ensure safe and secure Games for all participants and the Japanese public,” Tokyo 2020 organisers said in a statement following five-way talks that included the head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach and the Tokyo governor.
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“People who are involved in the Olympics in some way may be allowed to enter the country, whereas regular visitors will not be able to,” Muto said. He said costs for hotel cancellations would not be covered. Organisers may also consider cutting the number of staff members who will participate in the Games.
Bach said he shared the disappointment of Olympic fans as well as the families and friends of athletes who had planned to travel to Tokyo.
“For this I’m truly sorry. We know that this is a great sacrifice for everybody. We have said from the very beginning of this pandemic that it will require sacrifices,” he said in a statement.
He said safety had to come first, adding, “I know that our Japanese partners and friends did not reach this conclusion lightly. Together with them, the IOC’s top priority was, is and remains to organise safe Olympic and Paralympic Games for everyone,” Bach said.
A majority of the Japanese public are wary about letting in international spectators to watch the Games as the country grapples with the tail-end of a third wave of the pandemic. The decision did not cover local spectator and organisers will decide next month on caps for spectators in venues.
