Olympic Games: behind closed doors and state of emergency in Tokyo

The president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach and the patron of Tokyo 2020 Seiko Hashimoto during a meeting on the presence of spectators at the Olympic Games, July 8, 2021. AFP - BEHROUZ MEHRI

Text by: David Kalfa Follow

3 min

The Japanese government declared on July 8 a state of health emergency in Tokyo until August 22, 2021, to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

A period that covers the Olympic Games (July 23-August 8).

In the process, the Minister of Games Tamayo Marukawa indicated that there will be no spectators during the events in the capital.

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Hard times for the

Tokyo 2021 Games

(July 23-August), two weeks before an opening ceremony which will therefore be held without spectators at the Olympic Stadium.

This July 8, the organizers of these

Olympics

, already postponed for a year because of the Covid-19, have indeed declared closed doors for a large part of the events.

Much of the closed-door events

The events that will take place in the Japanese capital will therefore have no spectators.

The prefectures of Chiba (fencing, wrestling, surfing and taekwondo), Kanagawa (sailing and some baseball / softball and football events) and Saitama (basketball, golf, shooting sports and some football) were also targeted, according to the Kyodo news agency.

On July 6, the organizers also announced that they would ask the public to “ 

abstain 

” from attending the marathon and the walk in Sapporo (northern Japan).

The organizers backpedal

Last March, already, the arrival of foreign spectators was prohibited by

Japan

.

On June 21, the organizers of the Olympics had however

authorized the presence of a local public

, within certain limits: 50% of the capacity of a site and no more than 10,000 people in any case.

However, the organizers backpedaled, in the presence of the boss of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach, in the face of a health situation in the Tokyo metropolis that returned to a level comparable to that of mid-May.

New state of emergency in Tokyo

This choice of an almost closed door follows the establishment of a new state of health emergency in Tokyo.

On Thursday, the Japanese government reinstated restrictions that were partially lifted on June 20.

In many areas, the number of new cases has decreased, but it has continued to increase since the end of last month in the greater Tokyo area

," said Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

We must step up measures to prevent infections from spreading again throughout Japan, given the impact of the new variants

 ”.

The more infectious Delta variant now accounts for around 30% of cases in Japan.

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  • 2020 Olympics

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