The CBC has arrived in Tokyo this week for the 2020 Olympic Games. A week out from the opening ceremony, Adrienne Arsenault takes a look at how officials are trying to keep athletes and members of the media contained in an effort to limit any risk of COVID-19 spreading.
Keeping an eye on it all must feel like herding cats. The opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo is a week away and athletes, officials and members of the world’s media are starting to pour through the airports in a city really uneasy about opening the doors.
Right on cue, the concerns from Tokyo are getting louder. Restrictions for all are getting tighter.
Spectators, domestic and international, already know they cannot attend the events. Thousands of volunteers are being told they are no longer needed.
And now the Tokyo 2020 organizers say they will be restricting access around the cauldron, the fan zones and fan activity centres. There is not much left for the Japanese to possibly get out of the experience except for watching it all unfold on television.
The last-minute, although arguably inevitable, restrictions are because of the last-minute, although arguably inevitable, spike in coronavirus cases.
Officials have blocked off the area around the Olympic cauldron in Tokyo and asked that members of the public not visit the area. (Makiko Segawa/CBC)
Tokyo on Thursday reported its highest COVID-19 numbers in six months, with officials confirming 1,308 new cases. The city is in its fourth state of emergency but the subway is still busy, restaurants are still open, people are still going to work. And the vaccine rollout is still a struggle.
Roughly 30 per cent of people in the country have had just a single shot. So there is anxiety and fatigue. And certainly there is frustration about all the arrivals.
A bold promise
IOC president Thomas Bach said Thursday there is “zero risk” that Olympic visitors will infect anyone in this city because positive cases would be isolated immediately.
That is a bold promise. And people are not seemingly calmed by it, with protests expected on Friday.
There is, instead, a motivated push to ensure rules are respected and deviators, unwitting or otherwise, are sanctioned.
A call for stricter punishments was even raised in parliament Thursday.
WATCH | COVID-19 cases rise in Tokyo ahead of Olympics:
No spectators, no fan zone, no Olympic cauldron viewing. The CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault has landed in Tokyo and reports on the tightening of restrictions that increasingly separate the Japanese from their own Olympic Games. (Hiro Komae/AP Photo) 6:49
Athletes who are already coming without most of their support networks are now staying in bubbles for the least amount of time necessary. They are not allowed to go to restaurants, tourist sites, stores or ride on public transportation. And they’ve just been told no one will be hanging medals around their necks on the podiums. Instead, the medals will be put on a tray. They will have to put them on themselves.
That is a restriction many likely didn’t see coming.
Restrictions for members of the media work like this:
There is no decree that those showing up be vaccinated, but reportedly about 80 per cent of those attending are anyway. At least two PCR COVID tests have to be performed within 96 and 72 hours before departing for Japan. Before arriving, a series of contact tracing and overt surveillance apps have to be uploaded to the phone.
Before getting to Tokyo for the Games, contact tracing and surveillance apps must be uploaded to phones used by members of the media. (Adrienne Arsenault/CBC)
People have to accept that they must fill out health forms and take temperatures daily and in some cases, as with CBC’s news team, there will be daily COVID tests. There must be a commitment to keep the GPS on phones turned on at all times. Upon arrival at the airport, a rapid test is performed.
Once cleared, accredited people are transported to their various accommodations.
No walking around outside
For the first 14 days, there is a type of “soft quarantine.” That means going only between the hotel and a pre-approved location and there’s no getting out of the car en route.
No public transportation, no walking around outside either. No meeting with residents in public. No leaving the hotel except for an allowed 15-minute window to go to and return from a convenience store.
Other rules are evolving and confusion is setting in. There are no media villages as in past Games, so crews are housed in various hotels.
But here’s where it gets complicated. There are, at times, members of the general public in those hotels, too. So, hallways and breakfast rooms are places where mixing can happen.
Officials prepare to administer COVID-19 tests to members of the U.S. gymnastics team and other people at Narita International Airport on Thursday. (Issei Kato/Reuters)
Something certainly seems to have happened at a hotel where Brazilian athletes are staying. Seven staff members tested positive. The athletes are reportedly all negative but everyone is on edge. Chinese officials are upset about members of the Japanese public still staying in and visiting the hotel where Chinese athletes are staying.
Put this all together and you end up, one week out, with an Olympics happening in Japan yet severed from Japan.
It will take work to inject joy into the experience for all, especially for a host city that has already given so much and is now being asked for more.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
