{"id":8542,"date":"2021-05-11T09:16:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T13:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/?p=8542"},"modified":"2021-05-11T09:16:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T13:16:59","slug":"fake-cheers-empty-seats-tokyo-gives-glimpse-of-covid-era-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/11\/fake-cheers-empty-seats-tokyo-gives-glimpse-of-covid-era-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake Cheers, Empty Seats: Tokyo Gives Glimpse Of COVID-Era Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) \u2014 Fake cheers, empty seats and the sound of pounding feet: Welcome to the COVID-era Tokyo Olympics, which Japan seems determined to hold at all costs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An athletics test event brought home the reality of hosting an Olympics during the pandemic, with athletes competing in a muted atmosphere and excitement hard to muster.<\/p>\n

Foot-strikes echoed around Tokyo’s 68,000-capacity Olympic Stadium during Sunday’s track events, with recorded crowd noises reaching a crescendo as the runners approached the finish.<\/p>\n

A fanfare of music greeted the end of the race, before the runners quickly departed down the tunnel, leaving a smattering of media and officials in the otherwise empty stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s weird running in a stadium with no fans,\u201d US sprinter Justin Gatlin said after winning the men’s 100m.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels almost like a time trial or kind of like an intra-squad meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The athletics meet, one of a series of test events taking place in Tokyo, involved more than 400 competitors, only nine of them from overseas.<\/p>\n

The atmosphere could be similar at this summer’s coronavirus-delayed Games, with overseas fans already barred and organisers set to decide in June how many domestic spectators can attend, if any at all.<\/p>\n

Although the test events are unusual, they lend weight to the argument that the Olympics can be held despite the pandemic, which has left Tokyo and other areas under a state of emergency.<\/p>\n

There was more noise outside the stadium on Sunday, with around 100 people protesting against an Olympics that polls show a majority of Japanese oppose.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID-19 infection numbers are high in Tokyo and Osaka, with many severe cases,\u201d said protestor Takashi Sakamoto.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like the money (for the Games) to be used in hospitals instead,\u201d he told\u00a0AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt beyond safe,\u201d said Gatlin. \u201cI’ve been tested every day, either saliva or nasal swab every morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bubble has been very successful. The only time I’ve seen the outside is when we get on the bus to go to the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rules were similarly strict at the Diving World Cup the previous weekend, which featured more than 200 divers from almost 50 countries somersaulting in silence with no fans present.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been spitting in tubes a lot,\u201d said British diver Tom Daley.<\/p>\n

There were some frustrations, with Germany’s sport director Lutz Buschkow describing the restrictions as slightly claustrophobic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most disappointing thing is that we can’t breathe any fresh air. That’s a really big burden for the athletes and trainers,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would at least be nice if we got a chance to walk in the hotel garden or car park… it would be good if there was a way to fix these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatlin said he hoped organisers might be \u201cjust a little more lenient\u201d come the Games, but that is unlikely.<\/p>\n

In an indication of the risks, organisers reported two coronavirus cases during the events: a diving coach who tested positive on arrival in Japan and was quarantined, and a support member of a rowing team who tested positive during the competition.<\/p>\n

But neither case forced a halt to events, and there were no immediate reports of additional cases being detected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) \u2014 Fake cheers, empty seats and the sound of pounding feet: Welcome to the COVID-era Tokyo Olympics, which Japan seems determined to hold at all costs. An athletics test event brought home […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international-sports"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1",640,480,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg",640,480,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg",640,480,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1",300,225,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1",640,480,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1",640,480,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1",640,480,true],"mh-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?resize=640%2C438&ssl=1",640,438,true],"mh-magazine-content":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?resize=640%2C381&ssl=1",640,381,true],"mh-magazine-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?resize=640%2C480&ssl=1",640,480,true],"mh-magazine-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?resize=326%2C245&ssl=1",326,245,true],"mh-magazine-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/realities-of-covid-olympics.jpg?resize=80%2C60&ssl=1",80,60,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"adminrfm","author_link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/author\/adminrfm\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"International Sports<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"TOKYO, Japan (AFP) \u2014 Fake cheers, empty seats and the sound of pounding feet: Welcome to the COVID-era Tokyo Olympics, which Japan seems determined to hold at all costs. An athletics test event brought home [...]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8544,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8542\/revisions\/8544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}