Japan’s new Olympics chief has said that the Tokyo Olympics should take place before live audience, despite concerns about hosting the games during COVID 19 pandemic. Last week, Seiko Hashimoto, who became the Tokyo 2020 president told Japanese media that the Games should have audiences just like other major sports events before audience although in limited numbers.
According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Hashimoto told reporters, “When we think about the possibility of holding the Olympics without audience in the stands, players will definitely wonder why there are no fans just for the Olympics and Paralympics when other games are allowing in spectators.”
According to daily, Hashimoto said, “Everyone wants an early decision about the direction to be taken regarding audience to prepare tickets and hotel accommodations.”
However, Olympic officials have said there could be separate decisions made in the coming months about the audiences from inside Japan and audiences from abroad.
Her comments came as Japanese authorities moved towards removing the entry restrictions on foreign athletes for the Olympics, maybe after March 7 when the state of emergency for the greater Tokyo region is scheduled to end, according to the Nikkei newspaper and Kyodo News.
That would permit Olympics test occasions from April, just at football World Cup qualifiers from March to occur in Japan, Kyodo said.
The Games was originally scheduled for the summer of year 2020 but got pushed back by one year due coronavirus pandemic across the world.
According to the Asahi, Hashimoto told reporters, “Support for holding the Olympics will not increase until we can remove various issues of concern concerning coronavirus pandemic, including the serious strain being placed on the medical care structure.”
