Team Fiji for the Olympics is working round-the-clock to prepare for the Japan Olympics.
Team Fiji Tokyo 2020 chef de mission Patrick Bower in a news conference stated that with the Tokyo 2020 playbooks it would give them a sense of what was expected when they reached Tokyo.
“The playbooks are the basis of the collective game, the plan to ensure that all Olympics and Paralympics participants and the people of Tokyo and Japan are safe and healthy this summer,” Bower said.
“They outline the responsibilities of all games’ participants and the rules that must be followed.”
The playbooks have been developed jointly by the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympics Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee.
“They are based on the extensive work of all partners’ taskforce which also includes the World Health Organization, government of Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan government, independent experts and organisations from the across the world. The playbooks are about the rights and responsibilities of NOC and NPC delegations to have everything done to provide a safe environment at the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games and equally have a responsibility to our hosts in Japan and all games participants to respect not only the formal rules but also the necessary behaviours.”
He said some of the guidelines outlined in the playbook were to minimise physical interaction, test, trace and isolate which was that all athletes and officials needed to download a Japanese reporting app before travelling to Japan.
“All athletes and officials will have a regular screening and hygiene will be monitored which is washing hands, wearing of masks at all times and support athletes by clapping and not singing or chanting.
“All athletes are only allowed to enter the games village five days before the competition and they must leave the village in 48 hours after the end of their competition.
“This poses a lot of challenges for Team Fiji and while we are COVID-19 free, we need to be vigilant and ensure we wear masks all the time and get back in to the habit of sanitising and disinfecting before we leave.
“We are in talks with Fiji Airways and whilst we can fly up to Narita directly from Fiji, return may be transiting through other countries which carry other logistic challenges. FASANOC and Team Fiji are working through all of these to ensure the safety of not only Fijians, but everybody else.”
Team Fiji is expected to travel to Japan on July 10.
