On the 17th, the chief executive officer of the Tokyo organizing committee for the Olympic Games, Mr Wu, announced that the opening ceremony of the Olympic torch relay, which began at the end of this month, would be held behind closed doors, and asked audiences in poor health to stay away from the relay route.
Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, March 17 (Reporter Prince Jiang) Tokyo Olympic organizing committee chief executive officer Mintaro Wu announced on the 17th that the opening ceremony of the Olympic torch relay starting at the end of this month will be held behind closed doors, and ask the audience in poor health to stay away from the relay route.
Minlang Wudeng met with reporters urgently at the headquarters of the Olympic organizing committee on the same day and announced the news of greatly lowering the torch relay. The Olympic flame will arrive in Japan on March 20, and the welcoming ceremony originally scheduled to be held in Miyagi prefecture will cancel student performance activities. From 21th to 25th, the flame will be exhibited in several areas affected by Japan in 2011, but the celebration will also be canceled. On March 20th, the “grand opening ceremony” originally held in Fukushima J-Village will also be canceled, and no ordinary audience will attend the opening ceremony.
Minlang Wudeng said: “This is all to prevent the spread of new coronavirus pneumonia.”
He also said that any torchbearer with fever symptoms would be banned from participating in the relay, and any audience in poor health would also be required to stay away from the torch relay route.
Minlang Wudeng reiterated that the Olympic Games will proceed “as planned”, but he also admitted that the current situation “is changing every hour”.
Tokyo Olympic organizing committee originally formulated a grand torch relay plan. The torch relay spread throughout 47 prefectures and counties in Japan, with more than 10000 torchbearers participating, BOCOG also rehearsed in three regions on February 15. No wonder minlang Wudeng said “it is really heartbreaking” when facing the current dilemma “.
The Torch of Tokyo Olympic Games was lit in Olympia, Greece on March 12. It was originally planned to be delivered in Greece for 8 days, but the next day it was canceled by the Greek Olympic Committee because there were too many spectators along the way. On March 18, the special plane sent by the Japanese Olympic organizing committee will depart from Tokyo to Athens. On March 19, the Greek Olympic Committee and the Japanese Olympic Committee will hold a torch handover ceremony at the panaxinaiko Stadium in Athens, which hosted the first modern Olympic Games.