Tokyo’s Billion-Dollar Olympic Stadium Nearly Empty For ‘Muted’ Opening Ceremonies

Tokyo’s $1.5 billion Olympic stadium, designed to hold more than 70,000 people, was nearly empty for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games opening ceremonies, with just 950 “VIP” guests in attendance.

Friday’s opening ceremonies were “muted” — a theme that looms over the Tokyo Games, which will take place largely without spectators or fans because of the city’s sudden spike in COVID-19 cases.

“Belated and beleaguered, the virus-delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics finally opened Friday night with cascading fireworks and made-for-TV choreography that unfolded in a near-empty stadium, a colorful but strangely subdued ceremony that set a striking tone to match a unique pandemic Games,” the Associated Press reported.

“Tokyo’s skyline goes as far as the eye can see, but from the air, the $1.5 billion stadium built for the 2020 Olympics stands out in the Japanese capital’s urban sprawl,” CNN added. ‘It can hold nearly 70,000 people, but for Friday night’s opening ceremony, most seats will be empty. Organizers said only about 950 VIPs will attend.”

The 950 attendees were spaced well apart. First Lady Jill Biden, who is attending the Olympic Games in her husband, President Joe Biden’s stead, even though the envoy petition typically goes to an administration official, was seated in a box by herself. The First Lady was pictured wearing a black mask with her black polka-dot dress despite being outdoors and far away from any other ceremony attendee, according to photos published to social media.

. @FLOTUS stands to cheer as #TeamUSA enters the arena. pic.twitter.com/XM0xiSzqxb

— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) July 23, 2021

Tokyo Olympic officials have been particularly concerned with COVID-19, and not just because the pandemic forced organizers to postpone the games a full year. The city is reeling from the largest spike in COVID-19 cases seen since 2020, and its vaccination rate is lagging behind other developed countries.

“[H]obbled by a slow rollout, a severe shortage of doctors and nurses, and by the fact that it must import all its vaccines,” Japan has lagged in getting the vaccine out to its citizens, per NBC News. The number of vaccinated individuals has grown considerably just in the last several days, according to the WHO, from around 15 million at the end of June to 66 million by the opening ceremony, but that’s still just 30% of the population.

Tokyo Organizers have laid down strict regulations for Olympic athletes — regulations that barred everything from breastfeeding infants to service animals from joining athletes in the Olympic Village — but its not clear all of organizers’ regulations are being followed.

“Athletes marched into the stadium in their usual parade, waving enthusiastically to thousands of empty seats and to a world hungry to watch them compete but surely wondering what to make of it all,” the AP added. “Some athletes marched socially distanced, while others clustered in ways utterly contrary to organizers’ hopes. The Czech Republic entered with other countries even though its delegation has had several positive COVID tests since arriving.”

The opening ceremonies were also marked by protests which were audible inside the stadium, the New York Post noted.

“Hundreds of protesters marched through Tokyo on Friday toward the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games — chanting for organizers to ‘go to hell’ for holding the event despite the pandemic,” according to the Post, which referenced videos posted to social media. “Just an hour before the Games started, a mass of people had gathered in Harajuku, the main shopping district in Tokyo, with police shutting down a major roadway as the marchers set off.”

The first Olympic events are already underway. The first medals are set to be awarded Saturday.

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