Japanese officials have made a decision to bar overseas spectators from the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer due partly to the unpredictability of coronavirus variants.
The decision followed a five-way meeting on Saturday of members of the International Olympic Committee(IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPD), the Tokyo Games organizing committee, the Japanese government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
The IOC and the IPC said they respect and accept Japan’s decision.
Limits on the number of local spectators will be decided next in April, taking into consideration professional sports events being held in Japan and the government’s guidelines on the number of spectators admitted into those events.
About 4.5 million tickets have been sold to Japanese residents, with another estimated one million sold abroad.
This will have no effect on the world-wide viewing figures for the Games, as the overwhelming audience is via television and increasingly on-line.
The British viewing numbers are typical with less than 3,000 actually attending the Games.
And in the case of sailing, the lack of a local viewing audience is the norm.
