The Tokyo Olympics are due to start on Friday with the traditional opening ceremony (to be followed at 1 p.m. in France).

A competition under the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, still present in Japan a year after the postponement of the Games.

Almost all of the events will take place behind closed doors.

The coronavirus pandemic had prompted Japanese organizers to postpone the Tokyo Olympics for a year, in 2021. However, the Covid-19 is still present and its variants worry the authorities of the country as well as the population.

On July 8, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga reinstated the state of health emergency in Japan until August 22, a period that covers the next Tokyo Olympics (July 23-August 8) but which for the moment spares the Paralympic Games (August 24-September 5).

So many elements that will make these Olympic Games unprecedented in more than one way. 

A "simple and sober" opening ceremony

According to Japanese media, less than 1,000 Olympic officials and personalities, including representatives of sponsors, will be allowed to attend the opening ceremony scheduled at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on Friday. Unlike the Rio Olympics and the fervor in the Maracana stadium, the celebrations for the Tokyo Games promise to be much more subdued and modest this year.

The 2021 version of the ceremony should be "simpler and more sober" than previous editions, the organizers warned, in order to stay "in tune with the health situation" and reduce the risk of contamination. Details of the evening were kept secret until the end but on a video of the rehearsals filmed by local residents, images of a terrestrial globe and the lyrics of the song "

Imagine

" could be seen projected into the sky.

The organizers wanted to make the opening ceremony a moment of "empathy" to express the "gratitude" and "admiration" of the sports world "for all the efforts that have been made" in the fight against the pandemic , which has killed 4 million people since the end of 2019. Tribute will also be paid to the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which led to the nuclear disaster in Fukushima and left nearly 18,500 dead.

Despite this serious tone, the ceremony should still be a festive moment, with the traditional musical tables referring to the history and culture of the host country and to the universal values ​​of sport.

Behind closed doors for almost all of the events

As with the opening ceremony, the public will not be able to attend almost all of the events, whereas the Games are generally a communion between the athletes and the fans.

Japanese authorities have decided that the competitions will be held behind closed doors due to the resurgence of the coronavirus in the country.

Most of the Olympic venues are located in Tokyo.

Competitions taking place in three neighboring departments (Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa) will also be closed to the public, organizers said later.

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Consequences: there will be no massive arrival of Japanese fans in the aisles of the Games, while foreign spectators were already banned from attending the competitions.

However, events planned in a few departments, including Miyagi (northeast) or Shizuoka (center) will accept spectators, but on a limited basis.

These two territories will host the football and / or baseball and softball tournaments during the Games. 

A still delicate health context

All these measures must curb the spread of Covid-19 and its variant Delta, feared by the local population.

But an outbreak of infections linked to the Olympics is feared as positive cases of people involved in the event multiply, including in the Olympic Village.

On July 19, the organizers counted 58 positive cases for Covid-19 since July 1, out of nearly 20,000 people who have arrived in the country.

The tens of thousands of participants (athletes, officials, journalists from abroad ...) are however subject to draconian restrictions because of health risks.

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British weightlifter Sarah Davies quipped on social media about the very limited travel allowed to athletes in Japan before these very special Olympics.

“We have what we call the prison yard,” she said in a video posted to Instagram, where she filmed herself walking on a pedestrian alley.

Other teams, including American swimmers and gymnastics star Simone Biles, also posted images of their training sites.

If an athlete is in contact with a person positive for Covid-19, he will have to train separately according to the rules established by the organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).