Tokyo (AFP)

Before the pandemic, the rural town of Okuizumo in western Japan was looking forward to hosting the Indian field hockey team for the Tokyo Olympics.

But the health crisis forced the municipality to cancel everything.

Continue anyway or give up?

Hundreds of other Japanese municipalities associated with the Olympic Games scheduled for this summer (July 23 - August 8) are faced with this difficult choice in the face of the continuing health crisis: some are withdrawing, like Okuizumo, others are making compromises in an attempt to save appearances.

Okuizumo had invested the equivalent of more than four million euros, a large sum for this locality of barely 12,000 inhabitants, in the renovation of its sports facilities, in anticipation of its Indian guests.

But the town threw in the towel in the face of the headache that their reception involved in a still critical health context: it would have been necessary to create a "bubble" for athletes, with regular screening tests and a medical team permanently available. .

"We wanted one of the best teams in the world to visit our city and show our children its technique," but that seemed to have become "impossible," Katsumi Nagase, a municipal official, told AFP.

The tradition of host cities welcoming athletes from all over the world is an important dimension of Olympic culture.

But during the "Pandemic Games", intercultural exchanges should be drastically reduced.

- "You have to adapt" -

More than 500 Japanese municipalities had volunteered to receive the 206 Olympic delegations from countries or territories.

These municipalities will now have to ensure that the rules of physical distancing between residents and athletes are respected.

This sounded the death knell for school visits and training sessions open to the public.

In northern Japan, the city of Kurihara has also given up on hosting the South African field hockey team, believing the game to be no longer worth the candle.

"If it simply becomes a training center for sportsmen, without exchanges with the inhabitants, the latter will not benefit from it," explains Hidenori Sasaki, a municipal official in charge of education at the local level.

In some cases, Olympic teams have canceled their initially planned accommodation in Japan on their own, due to health risks.

The Australian swimming team thus gave up training in Nagaoka, in the department of Niigata (north).

The Canadian table tennis team did the same for Okaya, in the Nagano department (center).

To show its support despite everything, Okaya plans to display posters of the athletes that the city should have hosted.

"Given the situation, we have to adapt," summarizes Tomoko Hirose, a municipal official.

- "The legacy will remain" -

Other Japanese host cities, however, maintain their commitments.

The city of Tsuruoka, in the north of the country, still intends to welcome several dozen Olympic and Paralympic athletes from Moldova and Germany.

Tsuruoka has had ties with Moldova for years, Takayuki Ito, a local education official, told AFP.

"What matters to us is to continue our exchanges", he underlines, describing for example recent archery tournaments organized online between the city and Moldovan friends.

"There are things you can do without spending a lot of money," Ito said.

But once there, the Olympic hosts of Tsuruoka will have to resolve to avoid contact with the inhabitants: their outings will be limited to their training grounds.

In the department of Tottori (west), the city of Yonago is also expecting dozens of Jamaican swimmers, Olympic gymnasts and Paralympic rowers.

Yonago has cultivated relationships with Jamaica since 2015, and believes it is his duty to fulfill its role as host city to strengthen those ties, according to Kyohei Takahashi, a local sports promotion manager.

In their hotel, Jamaican sportsmen will have a reserved floor and will use a staff elevator, in order to avoid the lobby.

They will also be invited to regularly take tests for Covid-19, and to take predefined routes to reach their training locations.

"We planned early. We will not be able to interact with the athletes this time around. But the legacy will remain," Takahashi hopes.

© 2021 AFP