Spectators at the London 2012 Equestrian Stadium at Greenwich
The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) held a five-party meeting on Wednesday 3 March 2021 with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Government of Japan, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The meeting’s focus was the attendance of spectators at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the new Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto revealed that a decision on international spectators would be made by the end of the March, before the start of the Torch Relay. Following that announcement, the capacity of each venue would be decided by the end of April.
Before the postponement, it was estimated the Olympics would draw about 7.8 million spectators and the Paralympics about 2.3 million, but it now seems very likely that international visitors may not be permitted to attend in order to protect the residents of Japan and Tokyo against further Covid-19 outbreaks and the introduction of the virus variants from around the world.
Tokyo has been in a state of emergency in recent times following a rise in Covid-19 cases, but a recent improvement in numbers means that restrictions on Tokyo residents may end on March 7th
Despite the recent publication of ‘playbooks’ for various stakeholders outlining the basic strategies to manage the pandemic during Tokyo 2020, there are still many questions surrounding the logistics and safety of holding the postponed Games, with or without spectators.
However, during Wednesday’s online press briefing the IOC President Thomas Bach once again re-iterated that the clear focus of Tokyo 2020 is to "have a safe, secure and fair competition for all the athletes, because this is the core of the Olympic Games.”
