Olympic venue capacity to be decided next week

TOKYO Venue capacity for the Tokyo Games is likely to be decided early next week during a five-way video conference with the main parties involved.

The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the central government, the Tokyo metropolitan government, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee will determine the maximum number of spectators at Games venues after the state of emergency ends for Tokyo on Sunday.

Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee, has been seeking ways to hold the Games with spectators. She has noted that professional baseball and soccer games in Japan are being held with spectators, even under the state of emergency.

The decision on venue capacity was postponed from this spring to sometime in June in the hopes that the infection situation would improve.

In response to the suggestion that holding the Games with spectators would increase the flow of people across the country and spread the infection, the organizing committee released data showing that only 26 per cent of the people with general tickets for venues in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama live outside these four prefectures.

“We want to disclose as much information as possible to gain the public's understanding,” said a senior official of the organizing committee.

Once capacity is determined, the number of doctors, nurses, first aid stations and ambulances necessary for each venue will be carefully examined. Another urgent task is to establish rules for spectators to follow at each venue, with food and beverages being a difficult issue.

Cancellations started being accepted this month for tickets for schools to give to students to watch the Games, so the number of tickets needing to be reassigned will likely be limited.