"For the moment", the route of the Olympic flame has not, according to the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics, suffered any modification. Lit in Olympia behind closed doors on March 12, transmitted in a ceremony without spectators in the Panathenaic stadium of Athens, the flame of the Tokyo Games arrived on March 19 in Japan. It is supposed to launch this Thursday its symbolic race in Fukushima, place chosen by the organizers for the desired symbol to see floating "the Games of the reconstruction".
The risks linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and the questions hanging over the International Olympic Committee's thinking about the choice of fall-back dates to save the Tokyo Olympics have "for the moment", in the carefully chosen terms, not upset the program. “The decision made a week ago (to keep the flame path as it is) remains appropriate for the moment. The torch relay will begin on March 26 in Fukushima, the plans have not changed ", despite the situation judged" worse and worse, "said the director general of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games Toshiro Muto.
After the call for the postponement of the Tokyo Games from 2020 to 2021 by the Canadian, Australian and Polish Olympic and Paralympic Committees, the American swimming and athletics federations, the French swimming federation, many athletes spoke on the desire to postpone and shared concerns. Footballer Nahomi Kawasumi, based in the United States, announced on Monday that she would give up participating in the torch relay, in order to avoid contaminating anyone.
50,000 people at Sendai station
Despite these recommendations, AFP says that more than 50,000 people gathered on Saturday at Sendai station, 300 kilometers north of Tokyo, to see the flame that was exposed there. "This is proof of the Japanese interest, in a way we are delighted," commented Mr. Muto, before stressing that the priority of the organizers lay in preventing the spread of the virus and putting in place in place of "advanced countermeasures".
At 122 days from the date initially planned for the Tokyo Olympics (July 24-August 9), Japan finds itself torn between the desire to share a long-awaited moment and the protective measures imposed by a pandemic that is setting their flame in peril…
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