Local organizers of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday announced that they will begin holding test events in March after the games were postponed earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to The Associated Press, organizers said in an online news conference Friday that a series of 18 test events will begin in March and run into May, with the Tokyo Olympics officially scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021.
Officials added that at least four of the test events, including swimming, gymnastics, diving and volleyball, will incorporate athletes from other countries.
A track and field meet on May 9 at the new National Stadium is also included on the Tokyo Olympics online calendar, although it is not clear if athletes from abroad will participate.
Hidemasa Nakamura, the games delivery officer, said none of the test events will allow fans from abroad to watch, although an unspecified number of fans from Japan will be permitted to attend some events.
“No, we will not have spectators from abroad,” Nakamura said Friday, the AP reported.
While Japan has outperformed other countries in its efforts at controlling COVID-19 infection rates, cases have been rising more recently.
Japan has had a total of nearly 143,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in a country of about 125 million people, with more than 2,000 deaths as a result of the virus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Despite this, Japan has begun holding more sports events with fans, with the final game of the Japan Series of professional baseball this week including roughly 19,000 fans in a 38,000-seat stadium in Fukuoka.
A few thousand fans were also allowed to attend an international gymnastics event earlier this month in Tokyo, according to the AP.
“As for the number of spectators, we have to take the guidelines of the Japanese government into consideration,” Yasuo Mori, who works with Nakamura on games delivery, reportedly said Friday.
This comes after International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said last week that all athletes participating in the Tokyo Olympics should be vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to participating, should a vaccine be available at that point.
“The IOC will appeal to the athletes and other participants — in particular all those who are living here in the village — to have a vaccination,” Bach said during a tour of the Athletes Villages.
However, Bach said that as of now, athletes will not be required to do so, saying “it will be their free decision.”
“I’m sure many, many of the athletes and the participants will follow this advice, or maybe don’t even need it and will do it on their own,” he added.
According to the AP, 11,000 Olympic athletes and 4,400 Paralympic athletes will be allowed into Japan for the games, along with tens of thousands of officials, judges, VIPs, sponsors and members of the media.