Fans urged to stay away from Olympic marathon over virus fears

The marathon and race-walk events are routed to go through the center of Sapporo, particularly the the start/end.

How about instead of disrupting traffic, and closing the urban streets to cars and now humans as well, why not make a new route in the vast empty countryside of Hokkaido, where neither cars nor pedestrians tend to be overly disrupted?

At a marathon rehearsal event in Sapporo in May, security guards stood with signs around their necks asking people to "please refrain from watching the race"

This will go down as the dumbest sporting event in the history of mankind.

security guards and volunteers stood with signs around their necks asking people to 'please refrain from watching the race'  

this is sports entertainment, but we don’t want any one to witness this.

we want 10,000 spectators but we don’t want you people.

we will set up public events, but we won’t allow the public to see it.

you will pay taxes to fund this monstrosity, but you are not welcomed to any of the proceeds that we will embezz……..er, USE to help all of Japan!

I wouldn't watch these events even if I was paid to do it, the pandemic is still present and I wouldn't risk getting corona over watching a sports event. To think that all the funds, time and energy that went into pushing for this ill-timed Olympics to continue could have been diverted into helping the people cope with the pandemic and instead is making their lives harder.

But they want you to pay taxes!!!

Remember folks, we paying for this to give dreams to our children. Who all dream about running along roads with no-one cheering them on.

Hey, lets hold an Olympics but tell people not to come, watch or cheer.

Farce. Worst Olympics since '36.

I will give it to Japan, I couldn't beat this even if I were actively running a satirical news site.

No spectators, no watching people running by, and better make sure you get the full Japan experience of using humans as nothing more than sign posts.

Even if everything goes exactly as Japan plans it to, I don't see how this Olympics could be seen as anything other than an abject failure. It has gutted almost everything except the IOC money-making opportunities.

The Olympics can be held but not the local Matsuri in the town I live or surrounding towns. The orginal meaning for the Kiriko Matsuri in many towns in Ishikaw were originally held because of a disease that effected much of the area hundreds of years ago. These local Matsuri have been held almost every year since. Because of the original reason why these Matsuri were created to pray for a cure and relief of a Diease, they cannot be held again this year and the Olympics can

藤原Today  11:10 am JST

The Olympics can be held but not the local Matsuri in the town I live or surrounding towns. The orginal meaning for the Kiriko Matsuri in many towns in Ishikaw were originally held because of a disease that effected much of the area hundreds of years ago. These local Matsuri have been held almost every year since. Because of the original reason why these Matsuri were created to pray for a cure and relief of a Diease, they cannot be held again this year and the Olympics can

It's sad so many festivals have been canceled this year, and I can appreciate the disappointment as someone that attends the Gion Matsuri most years.

I think the difference is that there is in theory some degree of control over the Olympic spectators that cannot be done for Matsuri. Crowd numbers are controlled, spectators must follow strict rules and there are various health checks on entrance. Whether these steps are enough is debatable, but they are something.

This does not make sense to me. Riding on the trains and buses are higher areas of coronavirus transmission compared to people standing in outdoor setting.

Roads are open to everyone. Olympics use a lot of taxpayer money, so let spectators come if they want. There is no danger of virus spreading along the road.

Otherwise, cancel the race.

Why should I watch a marathon? It’s already disgusting under normal circumstances, when those idiots grab something to eat or drink, then only take a small part of it while continuing running and then throw it all away anywhere. They have not even the simplest human manners. They don’t even say thank you or have only I not seen and heard it for decades? Still not mentioning the bad smell and fumes, for example from accompanying police bikes or trucks of camera teams.

let's change the title to "Olympic events urged to stay away from Japan over virus fears"

Fans urged to stay away from Olympic marathon over virus fears

This would almost be funny if it wasn't so grim

I will give it to Japan, I couldn't beat this even if I were actively running a satirical news site.

No spectators, no watching people running by, and better make sure you get the full Japan experience of using humans as nothing more than sign posts.

Even if everything goes exactly as Japan plans it to, I don't see how this Olympics could be seen as anything other than an abject failure. It has gutted almost everything except the IOC money-making opportunities.

excellent post!

Put the Olympics on TV, please.

The most pathetic Olympics ever, no crowds, no foreign visitors, no cheering, masks and nonsensical rules. These games will go down in history as the worst ever.