Shops, parks and timber plazas: The Olympic village welcomes world

Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics opened the athletes’ village to the media on Sunday, showing off apartments and a timber-laced shopping plaza where 11,000 athletes would stay and mingle during the sporting extravaganza.
 
The once-delayed Games are due to start on July 23 amid concern that the influx of thousands of people from around the world would contribute to the spread of Covid-19.
 
Japan has avoided the kind of explosive outbreaks that crippled many other countries. But its vaccination programme has been slow and the medical system pushed to the brink in parts of the country. The government’s drive to hold the Games has been criticised by hospitals and doctors’ unions.
 
Underscoring the concern, a Ugandan athlete arriving in Japan late on Saturday for a preparation camp ahead of the Olympics was found to be infected with the virus, public broadcaster NHK said. Athletes will be shuttled in and out of the village and be tested for the coronavirus every day.

 
Olympic rules ban singing and chanting during events, with masks required at almost all times.
 
Venue medics want no audience amid Covid fears
 
Facing the daunting task of keeping the world’s largest sporting event safe, some emergency medicine officers overseeing Tokyo Olympic venues are calling on the organisers to bar spectators over risks of a jump in Covid-19 cases.

The wooden plaza follows the Tokyo2020 theme of using timber in the construction of Olympics venues, including the National Stadium

 
Organisers are to decide as soon as Monday whether to allow domestic spectators into the stadiums for the Games, which were delayed by a year due to the pandemic and now set to start in about a month. Foreign spectators have already been banned.

Tokyo Olympics Organising Committee president Seiko Hashimoto

 
The Tokyo 2020 president is eyeing a cap of 10,000 people per venue, even as government health experts warn against in-person audiences.

Overwhelming public opposition to the Games has eased somewhat, but a Friday poll from Jiji news found 41 per cent still want the Games cancelled.