In Japan, dozens of cities gave up their host role for the Olympic Games and the Paralympics in just over two months out of concerns about the corona virus. As the newspaper “Nikkei” and other Japanese media reported on Thursday, citing government circles, between 30 and 40 communities that had offered themselves as a training camp for foreign athletes and for cultural exchange as part of the “Host Town” program have withdrawn.
Tokyo's neighboring province of Chiba has meanwhile announced that it had been informed by the US Athletics Association in April that it would forego the training camp planned there out of concern for the safety of the athletes. The British wheelchair basketball team and the Russian fencers will not train in Chiba as planned, according to information from the Kyodo news agency.
Although the Japanese government wants to cover the host cities' additional costs for corona measures and has drawn up guidelines, smaller communities do not have enough staff for the additional tasks. In addition, an increasing number of foreign delegations had withdrawn on their own initiative.
As of the end of April, 528 municipalities in Japan had registered to welcome athletes from 184 countries and regions, the Kyodo agency reported. The government has called on the communities to continue the cultural exchange online, among other things, it said.
