<Anchor>
This event will be held without spectators for the first time in the 125-year history of the modern Olympic Games. Due to the schedule, softball and soccer matches started today (21st) before the official opening, but only the voices of the players reverberated in the empty stadium.
Next is reporter Park Chan-beom.
<Reporter> The
Tokyo Olympic Games, which have been delayed by one year, opened the opening ceremony at Fukushima Stadium, which had a gloomy atmosphere, where only some officials and reporters entered the event.
[I'm from Fukushima and I'm a pitcher. I am a middle school student.] After the
nuclear accident, in prayer for revival, there was no one to applaud except for the players of both teams, even when the Fukushima junior high school students gave the first pitch and first pitch. Overall it was a quiet atmosphere.
While hugging and high-fives were banned for quarantine, players tried to make slight fists after hitting a home run, but there were also players who sometimes held hands or hugged.
[Fujita Yamato/Japanese Softball Player: It has a meaning as an opening ceremony, and I am proud of the Japanese team to have had a good start… .] The
atmosphere was no different at the women's soccer field, which was opened without spectators.
Only the voices of the players echoed in the empty stadium.
Tokyo Stadium, where the match between the United States and Sweden was held, can accommodate up to 50,000 spectators, but as it was played without fans, only a few reporters filled the spectators sparsely.
At the Tokyo Olympics, 97% of all matches will be played without spectators.
Two matches of women's soccer were held in Miyagi, 400 kilometers from Tokyo, where spectators were allowed up to 10,000, and the atmosphere was still gloomy, with a small number of spectators sitting sparsely.
(Video coverage: Cho Chang-hyeon, Yang Hyun-cheol, video editing: Oh Young-taek)
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