Fans outside of the Olympic park in downtown Tokyo in preparation of the 2021 Summer Olympics (The Guardian file photo)

Tokyo Olympics: State of Emergency, No Fans, No Demonstrations

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Organizers originally had planned to limit local fans to 10,000 with no fans from outside Japan. However, a state of emergency in the city of Tokyo was issued because of the rising of corona virus cases in the country, according to Mr. Tamayo Marukawa, Japan’s Olympic Minister, who also said organizers came to the agreement to hold the games without fans.

International Committee President Thomas Bach met with organizers and officials in Japan. However, some events like Baseball, Softball and Soccer still might take place outside Tokyo (as planned) where there is no state of emergency.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the state of emergency will go in place next Monday and last through August 22. “Taking into consideration the impact of the delta strain, and in order to prevent the resurgence of infections from spreading across the country, we need to step up virus prevention measures,” Suga said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced they are adapting their long-standing Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which reads “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or radical propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other area.

If you were planning to attend the Olympics in Japan, you are ‘on your own’ you can still travel there, however, you will not be able to attend all events held in Tokyo. As for the other events, scheduled in other cities outside Tokyo, good luck.

Japan has spent $15.4 billion on the Olympic and Paralympics Games. Because they were to take place on 2020 and because the postponement because of the pandemic, some estimates to be an additional $3 billion to that bill. NBC paid $1.34 Billion for the rights to broadcast this Summer Olympics The Olympics begin July 23 and run through August 8. The Paralympics will take place August 24.