Tokyo Olympics may be held behind closed doors (full text)

Tokyo Olympics may be held behind closed doors (full text) Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee hints that it does not rule out the possibility of holding the Olympics behind closed doors

Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee spokesman Masatsugu Takaya said on the 4th that all stakeholders of the Tokyo Olympics do not want to see the Olympics held without spectators, but how the Olympics will ultimately be held will depend on the development of the epidemic and the results of consultations among all parties.

Masatsugu Takaya made the above statement at a press conference that day. A senior official in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who is close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said last week: "The Olympics will definitely be held, even without spectators."

In response to the above conversation, Takaya Masatsugu said: "This is actually a topic about the new crown countermeasures. I must emphasize again that regarding the measures taken against the epidemic at next year's Olympics, the Japanese central government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee will form a committee to conduct in-depth and careful discussions starting this fall. We will then see the results of the three-party discussion."
He also said: “I remember that IOC President Bach said in an interview that he did not want to see the Olympics held without spectators, and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee did not want to see the Olympics held without spectators. No one wants the Olympics to be held without spectators. Therefore, we will closely monitor the development of the epidemic situation and then wait for the results of discussions among all parties so that we can hold a safe Olympics next year.”

It is not difficult to see from the above statement of Masatsugu Takaya that the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee has not actually ruled out the possibility of the Olympics being held behind closed doors. As the domestic epidemic situation in Japan has suddenly become severe since July and the number of confirmed cases has set new highs, holding the Olympics behind closed doors may have become one of the options.

The spokesman also said that although the three parties began discussing measures to respond to the epidemic in the fall, they did not set a deadline for when these measures would be introduced.