Mai Tarumi, a 33-year-old Japanese woman, has long dreamed of being a volunteer at the Tokyo Olympics (July 23-August 8), but the uncertainty generated by the covid-19 pandemic also leads her to ask herself many questions and doubt the success of the event.
Like other compatriots who were looking forward to taking part in some way in these Games, already postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the pandemic, she is concerned about how they will have to be played, perhaps behind closed doors or without foreign spectators.
According to the organizers, these restrictions may be necessary for the Games to be played in complete safety, but Mai Tarumi fears that the big party she has long envisioned will be turned into a major disappointment.
An Olympic Games without spectators “would be like any other sporting event” at this time, the young woman explains to AFP in front of the facility planned to host the Olympic taekwondo events, where she hopes to be able to volunteer.
“The atmosphere of the Olympic Games is completely different, people from all over the world gather, competitions are organized, there are exchanges on a cultural level and you enjoy the party,” he explains.
Those responsible for Tokyo-2020 had 80,000 volunteers for the initial dates planned last year, but the postponement of one year has prevented a number of them from being registered to be in the Japanese capital in 2021.
Mai Tarumi had the idea to volunteer after a stay in Canada, during the Vancouver 2020 Winter Games. He intends to go ahead with his plans, even though there are no spectators in the stands.
– “Once in life” –
In a week a decision will be made on the number of viewers.
The relay of the Olympic flame by Japan should begin on March 25, but with reduced celebrations and slogans of physical distancing.
Around 10,000 runners must take part in that relay, including Kazuo Okano, 62, a karate teacher.
The inclusion of this martial art in the Tokyo Olympic program made him want to participate in the relay of the flame, he explained to AFP.
“Even without an audience, it will be a dream (participate in the relay of the flame). That happens once in a lifetime,” he says.
For Yoshiko Tanaka, 56, the success of the Olympics will depend on whether or not they can count on spectators. She and her family have four tickets to the judo competition, won in a lottery after applying for some thirty different events.
But this viewer now fears that the experience will not live up to her great memories of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano (central Japan), where she was able to attend speed skating events.
– Postponement or cancellation? –
“I was shocked by the number of people present” in Nagano, recalls Tanaka, who underlines the “impressive silence” before the start of the races and then the clamor of the masses once the finish line was crossed, to generate an “incredible” atmosphere.
Now he fears that Tokyo will suffer a sad Olympic Games if they have to be played behind closed doors: “Even in the stadium it would be a bit like watching the event on television. Without an audience, the silence is total, there is no mood, or anything … It’s really hard to imagine what the Olympic Games would be like under those conditions. “
Like volunteer Mai Tarumi, Yoshiko Tanaka would prefer the Games to be postponed again for a year, or even rescheduled for 2024. But she says she would still understand if the event ends up being definitively canceled, an option that continues to be categorically ruled out by the organizers.
If the Games are played while COVID-19 infections continue to be high, Mai Tarumi believes that the Olympic message of hope and equality could backfire on the organizers.
But if the event is kept in a health context as difficult as the current one, “organizing the Games could make us think that we don’t care about the situation,” he warns.
“I think the world would view that with contempt,” he fears.
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