Tokyo (AFP)

From daily tests to empty stands to countless checks, several pre-Olympic events currently organized in Tokyo despite the state of emergency linked to the pandemic provide a glimpse of what the Olympic Games could look like this summer.

These test events take place while a majority of the Japanese public is still opposed to the holding of the Olympics (July 23-August 8) and the organizers are trying to demonstrate that they can organize the event "safely" despite the health crisis which also affects the Japanese archipelago.

On Sunday, more than 400 athletes - including nine from overseas - competed in an athletics event, surrounded by empty seats at Tokyo Olympic Stadium.

"It's weird to be running in a stadium without supporters," said US sprinter Justin Gatlin after winning the 100m, amid false crowd sounds from the speakers.

This atmosphere could be a foretaste of this summer's Games, delayed for a year by the coronavirus.

Foreign spectators are already banned from entering Japan, and organizers must decide in June whether they will allow a local audience and by what limit.

About a hundred people demonstrated against the Olympics outside the stadium on Sunday.

“The numbers of Covid-19 infections are high in Tokyo and Osaka, with many severe cases,” protester Takashi Sakamoto said.

"I would like the money (from the Games) to be used instead in hospitals," he told AFP.

According to a poll published Monday by the daily Yomiuri, 59% of those questioned want the Games to be canceled, 23% being in favor of holding them without spectators and 16% of holding them with a limited audience.

The poll did not offer the option of a new postponement.

Another poll by the TBS television channel found that 37% of those polled were in favor of the cancellation, while 28% wanted the Games to be postponed again.

- "More than safe" -

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was on the defensive on Monday, telling parliament that he "never put the Olympics first" and that his priority was "the life and health of the Japanese people".

An online petition calling for the Games to be canceled has garnered more than 315,000 signatures since last Wednesday, but Games organizers assure the mega-event can be staged safely with strict rules to protect against the virus.

“I felt more than safe,” said Justin Gatlin.

“I was tested every day, either by saliva or by nasal swab every morning. The bubble was very effective. The only time I saw the outside was when we were going upstairs. bus to go to the track ".

The rules were just as strict at the Diving World Cup the previous weekend, which saw more than 200 divers from nearly 50 countries somersaults in silence, without spectators.

“We spat in tubes a lot,” said British diver Tom Daley.

"We knew what was going to happen when we got here."

But German sporting director Lutz Buschkow said the restrictions could make him somewhat claustrophobic.

"The most disappointing thing is that we cannot breathe fresh air. It is a very big burden on athletes and coaches."

Organizers reported two cases of coronavirus during the trials: a diving coach who tested positive on arrival in Japan and was quarantined, and a member of the management of a rowing team who was tested positive during the competition.

But none of these cases caused the stopping of the tests, and no other cases were detected immediately.

© 2021 AFP