The International Olympic Committee recognizes "sleepless nights" in preparations for the Tokyo Olympics

German International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach acknowledged "doubts" and "sleepless nights" due to the turbulent preparations to host the Tokyo Olympics, which start Friday after a year of delays due to the repercussions of the Corona virus, amid resentment and local opposition as a result of the continuing outbreak of "Covid-19".

Speaking at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in the Japanese capital, a few days before the opening of the Games, Bach said that the unprecedented decision to postpone the Games from the summer of 2020 proved to be more complex than previously thought.

Preparations for the opening ceremony were very turbulent with Tokyo in a state of health emergency, which intensified local opposition to the decision to go ahead with the Games, which will be held in the absence of the public at the events scheduled in the capital, which means that the vast majority of competitions will be held behind closed doors.

"Over the past 15 months we have had to make many decisions in a state of uncertainty. We had doubts every day. We deliberated and debated. There were sleepless nights," Bach said. "It affected us too, it weighed me down. But in order to get to this day, we had to show confidence. We had to show a way out of this crisis," he added.

Bach sparked sporadic protests during his visit to Japan, where the latest poll in the "Asahi Shimbun" newspaper showed that 55 percent of those who participated in it, opposed the holding of the games this summer.

And the opposition from locals is not for nothing, as four athletes have so far tested positive in the Olympic Village, raising fears that the influx of thousands of athletes, officials and the media will further increase the number of HIV infections in Japan.

A teenage American gymnast who resided outside the Olympic Village was among 71 positive Games-related cases reported so far.

Olympic and Japanese officials have strongly defended the Games, which are held in a strict health "bubble" with daily tests, while nearly 8 percent of the athletes participating in the Games received a vaccine against the virus.

As the opening ceremony gets closer and closer, "we can finally see the end of the dark tunnel," Bach said. "Cancellation was never an option for us. The IOC never gives up on athletes...We did it for the athletes."

The reality of gaming in the time of the pandemic

Bach was speaking at an unusual session of the International Olympic Committee, in which participants respected social distancing by sitting at a desk, wearing masks, while the microphone was wiped after each speaker.

This scene reflected what would be the situation in the games, most of which will be held in empty stadiums, in which the audience will be replaced by recorded encouraging voices, starting with the opening ceremony in the Olympic stadium, which can accommodate 68 thousand spectators, but it will be empty on Friday, except for the presence of nearly a thousand officials and Olympic personalities, including Including representatives of the sponsors. The concert will be held without the music of composer Keigo "Cornelius" Aoyamada, who resigned on Monday over an old story of bullying against his schoolmates with special needs.

Oyamada's resignation came in addition to the resignation of several key officials in the Tokyo Games, led by former Olympic president Yoshiro Mori, who resigned due to sexist comments.

"By accepting sincerely the suggestions and opinions made by many people, from now on I want to think about my behavior and my thoughts. I really apologize," Aoyamada said.

"I realized painfully that my acceptance of the offer to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics did not take into account the position of many people," he added.

After news of his participation in composing the opening gala music began to spread on the Internet, interviews he gave in the mid-1990s resurfaced in which he argued, without apparent remorse, about his bullying of classmates with disabilities.

The bullying and his statements sparked outrage on social media.

The issue adds to a long list of problems that organizers have faced since last summer when they were forced to postpone the Games for a year, through the resignation of Tokyo 2020 President Mori, who stepped down in February after saying that women talk too much in meetings.

And the creative director of the opening and closing ceremonies, Hiroshi Sasaki, chose to resign in March after likening an overweight comedian to a pig.

Also Monday, Japanese automaker Toyota, one of the main sponsors of the Tokyo Olympics, announced that it would not be represented on Friday at the opening ceremony, and the group would not broadcast advertisements related to the event.

"Toyota officials will not attend the opening ceremony and the main reason is that there will be no spectators," a Toyota spokeswoman told AFP.

In a statement on Monday, Toyota Media Officer Jun Naata told reporters that sticking to holding the Games in Tokyo despite the ongoing pandemic is "difficult to understand" for the Japanese people.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news