Tokyo (AFP)
Because of the pandemic, the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics do not plan festivities on July 23, one year from the new date of the opening of the games postponed to 2021, local media announced Friday.
This decision was made to avoid the risk of new infections, but also because the organizers deemed that a "moderate tone" was more appropriate, according to the public television channel NHK and the Japanese news agency Kyodo, citing sources. close to the case.
Encouraging messages for athletes could be posted online instead, according to Kyodo.
Requested by AFP, the press service of Tokyo 2020 has refrained from any comments for the moment.
The organizers are also considering ways to reduce the size of the Olympic Games, whose already high costs are still swelling with this historic postponement, said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Thursday.
The opening ceremony and the number of spectators could notably be reduced, according to Japanese media.
And all the actors of the event (athletes, official officials and spectators) could be obliged to pass beforehand a test of detection of the coronavirus, according to Yomiuri Shimbun.
Even the holding of the Tokyo Olympics is still uncertain.
IOC boss Thomas Bach said last month that 2021 would be the "last option" to host the Games in Tokyo, stressing that they could not be postponed once again.
He had refused to say whether the existence of a vaccine by then would be a condition for the holding of the Olympic Games, but he had shown little enthusiasm at the idea of organizing them behind closed doors.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it was "difficult" to organize the Games until the pandemic was brought under control.
© 2020 AFP