Olympics in front of empty stands: Japan locks out spectators

The Japanese hosts announced the decision on Thursday after consultations with the International Olympic Committee. “We had no other choice,” said organization boss Seiko Hashimoto. Until recently, the Olympic organizers had stuck to their plans to allow up to 10.000 fans from Germany into the arenas per competition. This hope has now shattered. In Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures, the arenas will remain empty during the games. Foreign spectators were already banned from entering the country in March. “We had no other choice” OC boss Seiko Hashimoto Before the organizers' short-term discussions on Thursday, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government decided to declare a new state of emergency for the duration of the Olympic Games. The measure will apply from next Monday until August 22nd, it said. The Summer Games in Tokyo are scheduled to take place from July 23rd to August 8th. The reason for what is now the fourth state of emergency for Tokyo is the significant increase in the number of infections. With the state of emergency, the government primarily wants to prevent restaurants and bars from serving alcohol. Singing karaoke should also be stopped in order to get the spread of the virus under control. Citizens should stay at home if possible. Many people in Japan fear that the games could become a superspreader event. Japan's Olympic organizers and the IOC have always emphasized that everything will be done "safely". Corona cases are rising rapidly IOC President Thomas Bach arrived in the Olympic city on Thursday and went into a three-day quarantine in a five-star hotel in the city center. They will show responsibility and “support all measures that are necessary for safe games for Japan’s population and the participants,” Bach assured at the beginning of the discussions on the spectator question. On the day of his arrival, the Tokyo metropolitan government reported 896 new cases of infection. This means that the number of new infections has been higher than on the same day in the previous week for 19 days now.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

Olympics in front of empty stands: Japan locks out spectators

The Olympic organizers have decided to exclude all spectators from the competitions in Japan's capital. This has never happened before in history.

Suggestions

Comments (0)