When Covid anxiety intensifies, the Japanese reject Olympic athletes

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Cities and towns across Japan have cancelled plans to host athletes before the Tokyo Olympics, leaving competitors with little chance to adapt to this environment and threatening to distort the competition of the world’s largest sports event.

The local camp is a The key part of preparation For many Olympic athletes, they are allowed to train, adapt and unite as a team before entering the Olympic Village or directly into the competition venue.

But the severity of Covid-19 restrictions-which will apply even if athletes are vaccinated-has forced many cities and towns to cancel, highlighting Japan’s determination to take action. Host the Olympics The logistics of the event was strained during the pandemic.

extreme Damp heat At the Tokyo Summer Olympics, if athletes fail to adapt to local conditions fast enough, they will struggle, especially if Covid-19 prevents them from leaving their home country to train in the right climate.

Sebastian Coe, president of the World Athletics Games, said at a news conference in Tokyo that the athletes accepted that they had little time to adapt.

“In track and field, we know that athletes have to go to the village a few days in advance. They have limited access to detention camps,” he said.

But Coe insisted that having no time to adapt to the hot and humid environment will not affect the game. He said: “Everyone is in the same boat.”[The athletes]. . . I would rather be here than sitting outside and dancing. “

Local officials said the U.S. track and field team abandoned its plan to hold a pre-Olympic training camp in Chiba Prefecture outside Tokyo for safety reasons.

As Japan strives to gain support from Tokyo, Tokyo remains in a state of emergency Vaccination campaign Off the ground. So far, the country has only provided the first dose of vaccine to 3% of its population, and recent opinion polls show that 60% of the public want to cancel the competition.

Since April 23, Olympic athletes and logistics personnel have been able to enter the country. The Olympic certificate can be doubled as a visa, bypassing Japan’s restrictions on Covid-19, which prevented most foreigners from entering the country for more than a year.

However, athletes and officials participating in the competition must comply with A long list of preventive measures, Including the approval of all travel plans, continuous testing for Covid-19, and avoidance of contact with the Japanese public. Failure to comply may result in penalties for the game or even expulsion.

For many Japanese towns, interacting with athletes is the entire focus of training camps. At the Rugby World Cup held in Japan in 2019, the bond between the local community and the team was considered one of them. High Point That game.

After training in Fujiyoshida before the 2019 Rugby World Cup, France's Gilheim Girardo poses with Japanese fans

Before the 2019 Rugby World Cup, after training at Fuji Yoshida, France’s Gilheim Girardo poses with Japanese fans © Franck Fife / AFP via Getty Images

City officials worry that the pre-Olympic testing system will exhaust the medical resources they need to introduce vaccines for local residents. The city of Izunokuni in southwestern Tokyo will host a pre-Olympic training camp for Mongolia’s judo team, but said these plans have been cancelled.

“They want to do this in June, but it will be very difficult in practice,” said Masaru Kojima of the town’s sports department. “This will require daily PCR [polymerase chain reaction] Tested and completely isolated from the public. He said the town still hopes to host a camp before the Paralympic Games in August.

Okuizumo is a remote town in western Japan. It is a hockey bastion and has invested heavily in facilities to receive the Indian team’s training camp before the Olympics. Now it has abandoned those plans.

“We need to arrange the activities of the athletes, their accommodation, and ensure that there is no contact with the locals. It is very difficult for us to meet these conditions.

“We want to communicate between local school children and Indian players, and this is impossible.”

Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture originally planned to host the South African men’s hockey team. Instead of assigning its staff to accompanying athletes and conducting Covid-19 tests, New York City decided that it needed these officials to carry out its own vaccination campaign. It has cancelled the host city’s plan.

However, the Nerima Ward in Tokyo indicated that it intends to continue to host the Danish shooting team and the Ecuadorian track and field team, which shows that some teams will have a longer preparation period than others. Motoko Usui of the Tokyo Metropolitan Ward Office said that Tokyo has established commercial providers to conduct Covid-19 tests, thereby reducing the pressure on local facilities.

She said: “For us, the difference is that we are part of the city in which we are located.” “It is hard for us to think of cancellation.”

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