Athletes leave for Tokyo 2020: Japan is open for them

They were in doubt until a few weeks ago but, in the end, they will be done: the Tokyo Olympics 2020, scheduled for last year and then postponed to 2021, will begin on July 23 and continue until August 8.

Athletes have already left, at least the first groups. Testifying to this are Facebook posts, pictures taken by themselves but also those posted by airports and airlines. Posts full of joy, which have drawn more than a few critics to themselves. Japan is indeed armored and scared of the Delta variant. But, now, it will welcome thousands of people from all corners of the world.

Tokyo 2020 athlete departures kick off

"Among the athletes who have already left for Tokyo 2020 are also Italians. We are 10 days away from the start of the Olympics, and the first Italian athletes are leaving Fiumicino to reach the Olympic village: the men's and women's national saber team, and the softball national team, newly crowned European champions, the rowing, sailing and swimming teams. In these days 800 athletes and companions will reach the Japan with Alitalia's direct flights from Fiumicino to Tokyo, just reactivated," reads the Facebook page of Rome Fiumicino Airport, from where direct Italy-Japan flights have resumed, exceptionally for the Olympics.

Not only Italians have left for Tokyo 2020, of course. The British, for example, have flown and will fly with British Airways (also in the spotlight for the activation of a preferential corridor for vaccinees at London Heathrow Airport).

United did his in his mouth good luck to Simone Biles, among the top athletes on the U.S. national team. And she announced that she is the official airline with which teams from the U.S. will fly to Tokyo.

The controversy

The decision not to postpone/cancel Tokyo 2020 has caused great perplexity. Especially since, at first, the Olympics were to be held in the presence of the public. Nor now that it was decided to close them to the public, the scientific community is in favor of holding them. In mid-June, it had been considered to open the facilities to 50%, accepting only domestic spectators, but later the total closure because of the resurgence of contagions. They may be televised Olympics, then, but there are thousands and thousands of athletes and their teams. And the contagions certainly cannot be averted.

A decision, to hold Tokyo 2020 equally, in contrast to Japan's almost total closure to the rest of the world. "There is no way to guarantee zero cases of virus among the teams coming for the Tokyo Games as officials prepare to strengthen screening procedures," were the words of Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita. Yamashita also called for stringent measures at airports, after two members of the Uganda team tested positive once they arrived in Japan, and daily tests to athletes, journalists & co.

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