The Japanese turn their backs on Olympic athletes as Covid anxiety increases

Cities across Japan are canceling plans to host athletes ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, leaving competitors with little chance of acclimatizing and threatening to distort competition at the world’s biggest sporting event.

Local fields of exploitation are one crucial part of the preparation for many Olympic athletes, which allows them to train, acclimatize, and bond as a team before moving to the Olympic Village or directly to their competition venue.

But the severity of Covid-19 restrictions, which will apply even if athletes are vaccinated, is pushing many cities to cancel it, highlighting Japan’s determination to organize the Olympics during a pandemic it is straining the logistics of the event.

Extremes of heat and humidity in the summer of Tokyo, athletes will struggle if they do not adapt to local conditions quickly enough, especially if Covid-19 has prevented them from leaving their home country to train in a suitable climate.

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, told a news conference in Tokyo that the athletes agreed they would have little time to acclimatize.

“On the track, we know that the athletes will not be in town for a few days before. The possibilities of being in reception camps are limited, ”he said.

But Coe insisted that the lack of time to get used to the hot, humid conditions would not affect competition. “Everyone is on the same boat,” he said. “[The athletes]. . . I’d rather be here than keep dancing. ”

The U.S. track team has abandoned plans for a pre-Olympic training camp in Chiba province outside of Tokyo, citing safety concerns, local officials said.

Tokyo remains under a state of emergency as Japan struggles to achieve it vaccination campaign off the ground. So far, the country has given a first dose of vaccine to only 3% of its population, and recent polls suggest 60% of the public wants to cancel the games.

Olympic athletes and logistics staff have been able to enter the country since April 23rd. Credentials for the games also function as a visa, ignoring restrictions on Japan’s Covid-19, which have prevented most foreigners from entering the country for more than a year.

However, athletes and officials traveling to the games must meet one long list of precautions, including approval of all travel plans, constant testing of Covid-19 and avoiding contact with the Japanese public. Failure to do so may result in penalties and even expulsion from the games.

For many Japanese cities, interaction with athletes was the main point of hosting the camps. The link between local communities and the Rugby World Cup teams, which Japan hosted in 2019, was considered one of the high points of this tournament.

City officials fear the pre-Olympic testing regime will deplete the medical resources they need to deploy vaccines to their local population. The city of Izunokuni, southwest of Tokyo, was to host a pre-Olympic field for Mongolia’s judo team, but said those plans had been canceled.

“They wanted to do it in June and that will be difficult in practice,” said Masaru Kojima of the city’s sports department. “Daily PCR would be required [polymerase chain reaction] tests and complete separation from the general public. ”He said the city was still hoping to host a camp before the Paralympics in August.

Okuizumo, a remote city in western Japan, is a bastion of field hockey and invested heavily in facilities to host the Indian team for a pre-Olympic camp. He has now abandoned these plans.

“We should organize the movement of athletes, their accommodation and make sure there is no contact with local people. It would be extremely difficult to meet these conditions,” said Katsumi Naase, a city official.

“We hoped to have exchanges between local schoolchildren and Indian players and that would not be possible.”

The city of Kurihara, in Miyagi prefecture, was scheduled to host the South African men’s hockey team. Instead of assigning its staff to accompanying athletes and conducting Covid-19 tests, the city has decided it needs these officials to launch its own vaccination campaign. The host city plan has been canceled.

However, Nerima’s room in Tokyo said it intended to continue hosting the Danish shooting team and Ecuador’s track and field staff, suggesting that some teams will have a more resolved preparation period than d others. The Tokyo metropolis has commercial suppliers for testing the Covid-19, reducing stress on local facilities, Motoko Usui told the department office.

“The difference for us is that we are part of the host city,” he said. “It’s hard for us to think of a cancellation.”