TOKYO, Japan – Don’t expect a lot of fanfare or an event of extreme grandiose when the Games of the 32nd Olympiad opens at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, at 8 p.m. tonight – 7 a.m. local time in The Bahamas.
Over the next two weeks, over 11,000 athletes will be contesting 339 events in 33 sports and 50 sporting disciplines in the world’s most populous city, but one would never tell based on the event’s audience here in Tokyo.
The government of Japan has implemented a state of emergency in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and there will be no fans in the stands. That’s just one of the severe restrictive measures that are in place to protect the athletes, coaches, team officials, the media and patrons of the Olympic Games from the deadly coronavirus COVID-19.
As for the opening ceremony tonight, there is no special cultural extravaganza or grand show of pomp and pageantry under the lights that is planned.
Instead, the millions of viewers around the world can expect a subdued celebration of global sport taking place under safety and social distancing protocols in the midst of a pandemic that has wreaked havoc around the world. That’s the reality, to the point where this global event is known in some circles as the COVID Olympics.
To Japan’s credit, quite a bit is being done in preventative measures. As a journalist, I was required to have two negative COVID RT-PCR test results on arrival in Tokyo and had to take another one at the airport.
Visitors are tested everyday for the first three days in Tokyo and are quarantined in their hotel rooms and lodgings for the first three days.
Numbers are still on the rise though. A handful of athletes have tested positive and Toshiro Muto, the head of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) has not ruled out canceling the Olympics if COVID cases continues to spike.
Marco Balich, longtime opening ceremonies executive producer and now a senior advisor to the Tokyo ceremonies executive producer, told Reuters Sports that the show tonight will be a “sobering” reminder of the reality of COVID-19.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
