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WHEN the world’s best athletes come together for the Olympics every four years, they do more than run, jump and swim. In a memoir published after the previous Tokyo Games in 1964, Dawn Fraser, an Australian swimmer, lifted the curtain on life inside the Olympic bubble. “Olympic morality is much looser than a foreigner might expect,” she wrote. The village’s reputation for debauchery has only grown since. Organizers began distributing condoms to athletes in 1988, ostensibly to raise awareness of the HIV; at the last summer games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, they handed out a record 450,000. As a former Olympic skier said ESPN The magazine, an American sports publication, the Olympic Village is “just a magical and magical place, like ‘Alice in Wonderland’, where anything is possible. You could win a gold medal and have sex with a really hot guy.
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At this year’s Olympics, the atmosphere will be darker, duller, more chaste. For the sportsmen, the life of the village will be circumscribed, as specified in a book of interdicts of 70 pages. They were asked to arrive in Japan as late as possible (no earlier than five days before the start of their events) and to leave as soon as possible (within two days of their event ending). They must show negative results from two tests carried out in the four days prior to their departure for Japan, and another negative test result upon arrival. Although more than 80% of athletes are expected to be vaccinated, they will undergo daily testing, with a confirmed case potentially leading to disqualification. Masks will be mandatory except for sleeping, eating and competing, which means that athletes will have to wear them even when training in the gymnasiums of the Olympic Village and, if they make it that far, when stepping on the podiums for receive their medals. They will only be allowed to go to their accommodation and to the competition venues. All meals should be taken quickly and without mingling in the village cafeteria. Alcohol will not be served in the village, and consumption in groups or in public places will be prohibited.
The athletes will not be the only ones in confinement. The Japanese government declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures until August 22, long after the Olympics had ended. The government does not have the power to limit public movement, but other restrictions will put a stop to all celebrations: restaurants are asked to close at 8 pm and not to serve alcohol; residents are asked to avoid “non-essential” outings.
There will be no viewing evenings; a promenade near the Olympic Village which had been envisaged as a noisy fan zone will be closed. Tokyoites were urged to enjoy the games on TV from their homes. Almost all events will take place without fans, foreign or domestic. “It will be very shocking,” says Sakaue Yasuhiro of Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo: “People are told not to go out, not to meet, not to have a drink; children’s sports days are canceled, yet a global sports event is underway.
Contortions are the price to pay for hosting the games despite the pandemic, a state of affairs that the government’s top medical adviser, Omi Shigeru, has called “abnormal.” Although Japan’s vaccination campaign has picked up speed after a slow start, only 21% of the population is fully vaccinated. Rates are much higher among the elderly (around 75% of Tokyoites over 65 have received at least one jab), leading to fewer deaths and critically ill patients in the capital. Nonetheless, Tokyo registered 1,149 new cases on July 14, the highest tally since January. The spread of the more infectious Delta variant worries medical experts. Christian Tagsold of the University of Düsseldorf is ironic that the circumstances of these Olympics recall “Akira”, a cult Japanese manga and anime from the 1980s which depicts a post-apocalyptic “Neo Tokyo” hosting the Olympic Games in 2020.
Organizers admit that it will be impossible to completely control the virus. A handful of athletes and officials who arrived early have already tested positive. The authorities hope instead to avoid an Olympian epidemic. This will require respect not only from the athletes, but also from the 53,000 officials, staff and press who are expected to attend. They will be bound by a “written commitment”, but will face less drastic penalties for misconduct than the athletes, who risk disqualification. Many fear being less rule-abiding than the Japanese public, which has tended to heed government demands.
Those fears were amplified this week when four foreigners working for a subcontractor at one site were arrested on suspicion of cocaine use in a nightlife district far from the Olympic facilities. Pandemic or not, the Olympics will be a temptation for some to party. This is perhaps one of the reasons why the organizers reconsidered their plan to distribute condoms in the village this year. Instead, athletes will only receive their prophylactics when they leave Japan. ■
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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “No Fun and Games”
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