Compete, then go, athletes to be told

From opening ceremony to Athletes Village, safety will rule at Tokyo Games

TOKYO—Athletes at the Tokyo Olympics won’t have the luxury of hanging around once they’ve wrapped up their event.

No late-night parties in the Athletes Village. No nights, or early mornings, on the town.

Instead of getting to know their global neighbours, Olympic athletes will be encouraged to leave Japan a day or two after they have finished competing.

From the opening ceremony to life in the village on Tokyo Bay, the postponed 2020 Olympics will be like no other. There’ll be stringent rules and guidelines — and maybe vaccines and rapid testing — to pull off the Games in the middle of a pandemic that has been blamed for more than one million deaths worldwide.

“Staying longer in the village increases the potential for problems,” John Coates, the International Olympic Committee member in charge of overseeing Tokyo preparations, said Wednesday at a briefing for the Olympics and Paralympics.

Coates was asked if athletes would be discouraged from sightseeing, or looking around the city.

“Yes,” he replied simply, a short answer suggesting these Olympics will be all business with few frills.

Coates accompanied IOC president Thomas Bach to Tokyo this week as he met Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and shored up support with key Japanese sponsors.

It was Bach’s first visit to Japan since the Olympics were postponed in March. He left Tokyo on Wednesday after two days of saying a vaccine was likely to be available and athletes would be strongly encouraged to take it.

Organizers and the IOC are growing confident they will have a vaccine and rapid testing. This will help, but dozens of other countermeasures will also be in place; physical distancing, masks and bubbles in the venues and the Athletes Village.

Japan has controlled the virus reasonably well, with about 1,900 deaths attributed to COVID-19. But almost 500 new cases were reported Wednesday in Tokyo, and more than 2,000 around Japan — both one-day records.

Cases are surging in the country just as optimism is also on the rise.

Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games executive director, acknowledged much is still in the planning stages with many scenarios in play ahead of the scheduled opening on July 23, 2021.

“We don’t know what the situation will be next year, but some decisions will have to be made already in December,” Dubi said, speaking remotely.

Coates said the opening ceremony would be restricted to only athletes and a maximum of six team officials.

All 206 countries would be represented in the opening ceremony, and a full contingent of 11,000 athletes will compete in the Games. “We don’t want to change the tradition of all athletes having the opportunity to parade in the opening ceremony,” Coates said, suggesting athletes might be tested as they enter the stadium.

There are sure to be lots of rules. And athletes will be asked to follow them, as will thousands of officials, judges, media, VIPs and broadcasters.