Officials release first plans
Updates to come as virus evolves; fan attendance is still unknown
TOKYO — No cheering or singing.
No handshakes, hugs or high-fives.
No riding public transportation — not without special permission, at least.
After nearly two months of relative silence amid new waves of coronavirus infection in Japan and many other countries, organizers of this summer’s Toyko Olympics on Wednesday released the first of several so-called playbooks that will instruct athletes, officials and members of the news media on the protocols they must follow at this summer’s rescheduled Games.
But at only 32 pages and conspicuously light on details, the document may do little to assuage the concerns of critics who question whether the Olympics can proceed safely amid a pandemic. And the raft of questions left unanswered in its colorfully illustrated pages highlights just how many complicated feats of logistical planning and execution remain ahead for organizers of the world’s largest sporting event.
“If you have been to the Games before, we know this experience will be different in a number of ways,” read the booklet’s introduction. “For all Games participants, there will be some conditions and constraints that will require your flexibility and understanding.”
That might prove a huge understatement. Already delayed once by a year, the opening ceremony is now 170 days away. Between now and then, organizers must find a way to accommodate and ensure the safety of more than 10,000 athletes — as well as thousands of coaches, staff members and journalists — who view this summer as the culmination of years of sacrifice and training. They also must win back the support of an increasingly skeptical Japanese public, all against the fast-changing backdrop of cases, vaccinations and changing global health protocols.
If the Games do open as scheduled July 23, then the organizers will be right on one point: They will be very different from any previous edition.
For now, the best they could offer were the contours of a plan. Athletes and other attendees will not be required to be vaccinated or to quarantine on arrival in Japan, for example, but they will be subject to severe restrictions on movement and socializing. There will be temperature checks at all venues, and masks must be worn at all times indoors except while eating, drinking or sleeping.
The organizers said the documents were preliminary and heavier on colorful illustrations than hard-andfast rules — and would be updated as the pandemic evolves. Some of the notes remain hypothetical, too; organizers said Wednesday that they will wait until spring to decide if spectators will be permitted to travel to Tokyo or attend any events.
Anticipating criticism, the International Olympic Committee spent the past week reaching out to stakeholders and lowering expectations for the first iteration of the playbook, fully aware that it was light on substance.
But by beginning to outline the rules for attending the Games, the organizers showed their determination to proceed even as Tokyo remains under a state of emergency and the Japanese public shows strong opposition to hosting the competitions. New and potentially more dangerous variants of the virus are spreading across the globe, and many countries are struggling to vaccinate their populations.
Pierre Ducrey, director of Olympic Games operations for the IOC, reiterated Wednesday that vaccination would not be a prerequisite for athletes or anyone else traveling to Japan for the Games. Japan will not begin its own vaccination campaign until the end of this month and is unlikely to have its population fully vaccinated before the opening ceremony.
Instead, all athletes will be required to test negative for the coronavirus within 72 hours of their departure for Japan and submit to another test upon arrival. Assuming their results are still negative, they will then be allowed to participate in training and competition, avoiding the 14-day period of selfisolation that Japan currently requires for all travelers arriving from abroad.
Organizers expect that some infections will be inevitable, and they said in briefing documents that they would set up special “fever clinics” and secure hospital space for those who get sick.
Little discussed by organizers, though, has been the reality that infections have repeatedly derailed the schedules of other sports competitions around the world, a potentially dire problem at the Olympics.
Michael Toole, a public health researcher at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, Australia, offered the hypothetical case of a water polo team. “What if one of those team members tests positive?” he said. “That excludes the team from the competition. And what if they had a heat the previous day with the Canadian team? Probably they would be excluded. This could happen with field hockey, basketball, soccer, rowing. You could end up with this series of events that are suddenly canceled.”
To track outbreaks, visitors from abroad will have to file a list of everyone they have close contact with during that initial 14-day period. They will be asked to keep 1 meter away from other visitors — and 2 meters away from athletes — whenever possible. If fans eventually are allowed to attend, the documents suggest they be asked to express support for athletes only in the form of clapping, rather than singing or chanting.
Olympic officials see some reason for optimism. In many parts of the world, professional sporting events have been held for months, though often with sparse crowds or no spectators at all, and nothing as large as the Summer Games.
Some of the stiffest opposition to holding the Games comes from the Japanese public. In a January survey, Japanese broadcaster NHK found that nearly 80 percent of respondents believed the Games should be postponed again or canceled entirely, a figure that has grown in recent months.
Mei Ichinose, 23, a Paralympic swimmer who expects to compete for Japan, said in an interview last month that the health of everyday citizens needs to come first.
“Daily lives should be prioritized,” said Ichinose, who is training near Brisbane, Australia, “and when that’s not safe or when that is not protected, I don’t think sports should really be pushed in front.”