Olympics-Tokyo 2020 bans booze, high-fives and autograph hunting for
fans
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[June 23, 2021]
By Sakura Murakami and Tetsushi Kajimoto
TOKYO (Reuters) -Alcohol, high-fives
and talking loudly will be banned for the reduced numbers of Olympic
ticket holders allowed into venues as organisers conceded a "sense
of celebration" would be limited at a Games already postponed by a
year due the coronavirus.
Organisers have pushed ahead with preparations for the Olympics,
still called Tokyo 2020, despite strong concerns among the Japanese
public that hosting athletes from around the world could result in
further COVID-19 outbreaks.
Media reports that organisers were considering allowing alcohol
consumption in Olympics venues provoked an outcry this week, with
the hashtag "cancel the Olympic Games" garnering tens of thousands
of tweets.
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"As the Organising Committee wants to hold the Games in a safe and
secure manner, it's our responsibility to make it happen," Tokyo
Olympics President Seiko Hashimoto told reporters on Wednesday, a
month before the opening ceremony on July 23.
"So if our citizens have concerns (over serving alcohol at the
Olympics), I think we have to give up on that. That's why we have
decided to ban the sale of alcohol."
Alcohol sales have been restricted in and around Tokyo after health
officials warned drinking would encourage close contact and mingling
in bars that could help spread the virus.
Sponsor Asahi Breweries said it agreed with the decision to ban
alcohol sales, calling the move natural.
Ticket holders, to be selected in a new lottery after domestic
spectators were capped at up to 10,000 at each venue, will also be
asked to refrain from talking en route, to go straight to venues and
then straight home, and cannot ask athletes for autographs.
"The major challenge at the Tokyo Games is to curb a flow of people
and limit a sense of celebration," Hashimoto said. "We are striving
to make the Tokyo Games safe and secure, so it won't be full of
celebration."
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CONTAGION FEARS
Japanese medical experts have said banning spectators was the least
risky option but also included recommendations on how best to host
the Games if spectators were admitted. Spectators from overseas have
already been banned.
Hashimoto has defended the decision to allow spectators.
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![](../images/062321PIX/sports25.jpg)
Construction workers are seen around
spectators' seat area in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic
Games that have been postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo,
Japan June 22, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato
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"I understand that holding the event
without spectators would lower the risk, but there is evidence that
there have been no clusters at other events and tournaments,"
Hashimoto reporters on Tuesday.
Limited numbers of fans have been present at stadiums across Europe
for matches in the Euro 2020 soccer tournament and thousands of
spectators have attended baseball games in Japan.
Organisers said on Wednesday they would decide on whether to allow
spectators at night sessions, taking infections into account, by
July 12 when virus curbs are due to be lifted in Tokyo and some
other areas.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has still not ruled out holding the
Games without spectators if Tokyo is put back under a state of
emergency, from which it only emerged on June 21.
Many Japanese remain sceptical about the possibility of holding even
a scaled-down Games safely during a pandemic, with 619 infections
reported for Wednesday in Tokyo, up 118 cases versus a week ago.
"I believe that it will not be possible to prevent contagion within
the Athletes' Village," Masahiro Kami, the head of think-tank
Medical Governance Research Institute, told reporters.
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"Because of the delay in the vaccination rollout in Japan, it means
that those people going in and out of the Athletes' Village ... will
not be vaccinated in time."
In another blow to organisers' pledge that the Games will be safe, a
second member of Uganda's Olympic delegation, an athlete, has tested
positive for COVID-19 in Japan, an official from the team's host
city of Izumisano said on Wednesday.
The arduous preparations for the Olympics also appeared to have
taken its toll on organisers.
Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike was hospitalised on Tuesday after the
metropolitan government said she would take the rest of the week off
due to fatigue.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami, Tetsushi Kajimoto, Antoni Slodkowski,
Ju-min Park, Rocky Swift and Ami MiyazakiEditing by Gareth Jones,
Lincoln Feast and Alison Williams)
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