Torch relay for Tokyo Olympics starting March 25

TOKYO, 25 Feb 2021:

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games today announced the Olympic torch relay will start as planned on March 25 in Japan amid measures aimed at preventing Covid-19 infections.

The torch relay will begin in a month in the northeastern Fukushima prefecture and will travel through another 46 prefectures of the Japanese archipelago over 121 days, according to the committee.

The organisers asked Japanese citizens to refrain from gathering in large crowds in the streets as the relay passes. The event will be broadcast on Japanese television and online.

Teruhiko Okada, director of the torch relay, said at a press briefing that preventing crowds in the streets would be a priority for the organisers.

“No shouting, no cheering. Please cheer by clapping your hands and maintain appropriate distance in case there is overcrowding,” said Yukihiko Nunomura, vice director general or the organising committee.

The organisers could even cancel sections of the torch relay in the event of excessive crowds and lack of social distancing in order to prevent coronavirus infections, Okada added.

The route will be in principle be the same as that planned for 2020. The relay will start from the J-Village, a sports facility in the Fukushima prefecture, which, until recently, had served as a logistics base for clean up efforts after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

It will then travel through other regions that were most affected by the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011 as well as historical and cultural landmarks of the country.

The route is being reviewed and will be made public on March 2, although parts of it could also be altered according to the situation of Covid-19 infections in each region, the organising committee said.

All runners taking part in the relay will be required to wear a mask – except when a safe distance can be guaranteed between them – and monitor their health and disinfect their hands before the event.

Around 10,000 runners will participate in the relay although this figure could also change if some participants exhibit symptoms of Covid-19 or test positive in PCR tests.

The torch is scheduled to arrive at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on July 23 to light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Games.

The Olympic flame arrived in Japan on March 20 last year from Greece with the relay scheduled for five days later.

However, the relay was suspended after a decision was taken on March 24 to postpone the Games by a year due to the global health crisis.

Since then, the flame has remained in Japan and been put on display at various locations amid restrictions on account of the pandemic, which has led the Japanese government to declare a new state of emergency in Tokyo and several other regions until early March.

– EFE