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IOC President Thomas Bach in the Tokyo Olympic Stadium
Photo: Behrouz Mehri / AP
The Japanese hosts are locking out foreign spectators so that the Olympic Games can take place in Tokyo in the summer.
The Organizing Committee communicated this historic decision to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Paralympics organizers (IPC) on a video link.
IOC and IPC had "fully respected and accepted" the decision, it said.
Several Japanese media had recently reported, citing government circles, that fans from abroad should be denied entry to the Tokyo games in order to prevent the corona virus from spreading.
The new head of organization Seiko Hashimoto had urged a decision on foreign Olympic fans before the start of the Olympic torch relay on March 25th.
The meeting of people from well over 100 countries has always been at the heart of Olympia.
So far, around one million tickets have been sold to fans from abroad, and they should receive a refund.
According to the information, 4.5 million tickets have so far gone to Japanese buyers.
Whether locals can enter the arenas should be decided by the end of April.
"We know that it is a great sacrifice for everyone," said IOC President Thomas Bach.
"We are very sorry." But safety has top priority.
You continue to stand "side by side" with the Japanese to make the Olympics and Paralympics a success.
For the planned budget of the organizers, the loss of ticket income is a hard blow.
In addition, there are significant consequences for the tourism industry, which had hoped for a lot of money from Olympic guests and the advertising effect.
An appeal by the official ticket agencies outside Japan to Bach and OK boss Hashimoto on the day before the summit to postpone the decision remained ineffective.
The games in Tokyo originally planned for 2020 had been postponed by a year in the previous year due to the corona crisis.
As recently as December, the Japanese organizing committee confirmed that it wanted to allow as many foreign visitors as possible into the country.
In the past few weeks, however, doubts about these plans have grown.
In Japan, according to surveys, a large majority recently voted in favor of rescheduling or canceling the games completely.
Despite the difficult situation, the Japanese organizers have ruled out any further postponement of the games.
They are endeavoring to take strict measures in the fight against the pandemic to gain confidence in the hosting of the Olympics and Paralympics.
Editor's note: An earlier version stated that the IOC had banned foreign fans from the Tokyo games. In fact, according to official information, the Japanese organizing committee made this decision.
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