Even these bearers of the Olympic flame in Tsuyama seem to have lost their appetite for torch relay.
Actually, Thomas Bach should have been in Japan this week for final agreements. But under the current circumstances, even the head of the Olympic movement has to stay outside. Because the state of emergency in Japan’s largest metropolitan area has been extended to the end of the month for the time being, the trip through the country planned by Bach is hardly an option. In the past few days, for example, they only conferred with each other digitally.
The organizers went to great lengths to dispel any doubts about the safety of Olympia. On Wednesday they released the news that foreign VIPs will not meet with the Olympians in order to keep the risk of infection low. On Thursday it was added that the number of foreign officials would be limited to 78,000 – roughly halving. A representative from the organizers said on Friday that all officials would be tested daily at the games. Safety is a top priority.
There are still just under two months until the world’s largest sporting event is due to start on July 23rd in the world’s largest metropolis. This combination alone makes many people skeptical in times of a pandemic. In view of the high population density, Tokyo is also Japan’s hottest source of infection. Around a quarter of all illnesses are registered here. Experts in the Japanese health system expect hospitals to collapse in the summer – elsewhere in the country patients who need intensive treatment are already being turned away due to bottlenecks.
In Japan, for example, the costs, which have risen sharply since the one-year postponement, are not needed these days as a reason for the majority of citizens to be against hosting the Games this summer. Last week, a new survey showed that 40 percent want another postponement, another 43 percent want it to be canceled completely. Earlier this month, the politician and lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya initiated a petition with the same demand. In two days he had 200,000 signatures, a record in Japan. The number has long since doubled.
The security promises of the Olympic organizers are not convincing to the critics. All Olympic delegates should now be vaccinated. But the tens of thousands of volunteers who secure the process in stadiums, at train stations and elsewhere during the games are not intended for this prioritization. You have to line up like the rest of the population. It’s hard to say when it’s your turn. So far, barely two percent of Japanese have been fully vaccinated against the virus. Mass vaccinations are only just getting started for seniors.
The Olympic organizers are also criticized when it comes to the question of the medical staff. In the event that someone from the athletes should become infected with the corona virus, 300 hotel rooms will be provided as quarantine rooms – although these would not be fully booked anyway due to the exclusion of spectators from abroad. In order to ensure the medical care of the athletes, the organizing committee is trying to recruit 500 volunteer nurses and 200 doctors.
Susumu Morita, chairman of the National Association of Nurses, thinks this is outrageous in times of a pandemic: “I’m angry about sticking to the Olympics even though it jeopardizes the health and lives of patients and carers.” Prefectural governors in the Tokyo neighborhood voiced. The heads of government from Chiba and Ibaraki announced that they would not give up hospital beds for infected Olympians. These are currently too “precious”.
A kind of boycott can also be felt from other regions. In order to welcome Olympic delegations from different countries for training camps and cultural exchanges, a good 500 cities across the country registered as hosts. In the meantime, around 60 of them have withdrawn their support. The pandemic in the country does not allow a lively exchange, it is said again and again.
The most serious loss of support comes from the capital itself. Because it was considered unpatriotic in the Japanese parliament to express skepticism about “Tokyo 2020”, MPs from all possible parties have so far remained silent. It’s different now. Opposition leader Yukio Edano, chairman of the Constitutional Democratic Party, recently said: “It is impossible to protect people’s lives – and at the same time to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
On Friday, Shigeru Omi, chairman of the government’s anti-corona task force, stated that the decision on whether to go ahead or cancel rests with the organizers. He himself recently urged the pandemic to be taken into account. On Friday he added: “This decision cannot be made at the last minute.”
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