Peaty yes to Games, Yoshida yes to fans

TOKYO • Olympic swim champion Adam Peaty said there is no right answer to questions on the Tokyo Games taking place during the Covid-19 crisis but he is among the "biased" athletes who want the event to go ahead and is taking every precaution to compete.

Postponed for a year due to the pandemic, the Games open on Friday and are being held mostly without spectators and under strict quarantine rules.

Organisers yesterday reported at least four new cases of infection among athletes and officials, up from one new case a day earlier.

The Japanese public has been wary about hosting the Games at all amid a resurgence in new coronavirus infections and worries that an influx of visitors may create a super-spreader event, straining an already-stretched medical system.

"It's a hard question. You do have to think about the people who live here," the 100 metre breaststroke champion Peaty told British newspaper The Guardian when asked if the Olympics should go ahead during a pandemic.

"At the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the athletes who have trained for five years, every single day, getting up at 5am and going to bed at half 10 with a screaming baby. They commit their whole lives to this three-week-long event.

"You're never going to get the right answer... I'm biased because I want them to happen, I want to race. But I can feel for those who don't want the Games to happen."

The 26-year-old British swimmer, who has taken both shots of the Covid-19 vaccine, added: "I've taken every single measure to make sure I'm not going to spread it to anyone if I did have it. I wear double masks. That's all I can do.

"Some athletes are coming out here without any vaccinations. You've got to ask them the same question. Unfortunately, it's not an easy one to answer."

Support for the Games has been split though Japan's men's football captain Maya Yoshida's recent remarks captured the general sentiment. He questioned the decision to hold the Games behind closed doors, calling on authorities to reconsider the ban before the football tournaments begin on Wednesday.

Yoshida led Japan to a 1-1 draw with Spain on Saturday in their final warm-up ahead of their opening Group A game against South Africa on Thursday, with a socially-distanced crowd in attendance at Tokyo Stadium.

Matches in the women's tournament will begin on Wednesday.

With cases rising rapidly, Tokyo has entered into a state of emergency, but spectators have continued to attend games in Japan's professional baseball league and in the country's domestic football competition, the J-League.

The presence of the fans moved the Sampdoria defender to ask why supporters would not be permitted at the Games, which run until Aug 8 and is estimated to cost around US$15 billion (S$20.4 billion).

"I think a lot of people's tax money is going to hold these Olympics," the Asahi newspaper quoted Yoshida as saying.

"Despite that, people can't go and watch. So you wonder about who the Olympics is for, and what it is for. Of course athletes want to play in front of fans.

"Our families have sacrificed and put up with things... It's not just the players who were competing, but the family members, every one of them. So if they can't watch the match, well who and what is that match for... I really hope we can reconsider that seriously."

REUTERS