No spectators at Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games torch lighting ceremony

ATHENS (Reuters): The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia will be the first in more 35 years to be held without spectators after organisers yesterday introduced tighter measures to protect against the coronavirus.

Greece’s Olympic Committee said spectators would be excluded from both the dress rehearsal at the ancient site tomorrow and the widely broadcast ceremony on Thursday.

This is the first time since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics that the ceremony will be held without any spectators lounging on the grassy slopes of the ancient stadium in the tiny Peloponesian hamlet. The ceremony – held both for summer and winter Games – usually attracts several thousand spectators, including Greeks and foreign visitors. “The lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame will be done without the presence of spectators and only 100 invited and accredited guests,” the Greek Olympic Committee said in a statement.

“The dress rehearsal on 11 March will be closed to spectators and media.” The Olympic torch will be lit in Olympia at a scaled-down ceremony on 12 March before a seven-day relay that culminates with a handover ceremony in Greece on 19 March.

The number of people inside the ancient stadium will also be reduced with only a few dozen representatives of the Tokyo Games from a group of about 150 allowed access to the ceremony.

Organisers will also shut the press centre following the ceremony to avoid the gathering of many people in an indoor area and will stage tomorrow’s dress rehearsal without the presence of media. Tokyo had already stopped 340 children from attending.