Some Olympic flame events extinguished

TOKYO • Tokyo Olympic organisers yesterday said they had taken the "heartbreaking" decision to scale back parts of the Games torch relay because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chief executive Toshiro Muto said that the "grand start" from the disaster-hit Fukushima province would take place without a crowd and encouraged fans to watch the live web broadcast instead.

Torch bearers with high temperatures will be barred from taking part, with organisers also saying the programme could be changed if there is "excessive congestion".

Ceremonies to mark the flame's arrival at its final destination each day, as well as departure ceremonies, will take place without fans, while so-called welcome programmes by local municipalities will be scrapped.

The Japan leg of the relay, which will end more than 200km away in Tokyo, will start next Thursday from the J-Village sports complex. It was used as an operational base by workers scrambling to contain the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The small towns surrounding the Fukushima plant were chosen to showcase the region's reconstruction, touting the Games as the "recovery Olympics".

The moves come as doubts mount over whether the Games can open as planned on July 24.

Japan Prime Minster Shinzo Abe yesterday reassured other Group of Seven leaders in a meeting to discuss the contagion that the country was "doing everything in our power to prepare (for the Games)", which would be "proof that mankind can defeat the coronavirus".

Muto reiterated the same line of thinking, claiming the Olympics would go ahead "as planned", but acknowledged "situations are changing from hour to hour".

As the disease continues to wreak havoc around the world, polls conducted by Japanese media suggest locals increasingly believe it would be better to postpone the Games.

In a survey published yesterday, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said 63 per cent felt the quadrennial multi-sport event should be pushed back, while 23 per cent said it should continue as scheduled and a similar poll done up by Kyodo News showed similar figures.

But in reference to the on-ground sentiment, Muto insisted "public opinions can shift as the situation is changing ahead".

Respondents to a survey published by Japanese national daily Asahi Shimbun want the Tokyo Olympics to be postponed.

John Coates, the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) point man for the Tokyo Games, agreed it was still all systems go, telling the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday that a decision does not need to be made by May.

Senior IOC member Dick Pound suggested last month that a final call would be made by May, but Coates disputed the timeline.

The chairman of the Tokyo coordination commission said: "The IOC didn't recognise any dates that Dick came up with and Dick backed off that as well. It's never been the IOC's position. It was Dick's idea. There are four months to go."

Japan has seen 852 Covid-19 cases and 28 deaths, with Kozo Tashima, the Japan Olympic Committee's deputy chief, among the most prominent figures to test positive yesterday.

Tashima, who is also the president of the Japan Football Association, had been in Europe and the United States for business before returning home earlier this month.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE