It should have been a big party.

The Olympic flame arrived in Tokyo on Friday for a ceremony in an empty stadium, the day after the Japanese authorities and the Olympic organizers decided to ban spectators from most venues for fear of the Covid-19.

Exactly two weeks before the opening ceremony of the Games scheduled for July 23, the Olympic flame was carried on stage in a lantern and symbolically handed over to Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, in the rain.

Historic first

Tokyo-2020 organizers and Japanese officials announced Thursday evening their decision to ban spectators from attending sporting events in the capital.

The public should be allowed at certain sites outside of Tokyo.

This means that the 2020 Olympics postponed to this summer due to a pandemic will be the first in Olympic history to take place largely behind closed doors.

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