- Sofia Bettiza
- BBC reporter from Tokyo
Volunteers are vital when events like the Olympics are held. But at the Tokyo Olympics, many of them didn’t have much to do. Although some were grateful, they felt their dreams shattered.
Shinoda Akiko originally thought that the Olympics would be the only chance in this life.
She was very excited about becoming a volunteer-she spent many months learning English and sign language.
“I go home from get off work in the food factory every night and I will study. I think this can help me communicate with the audience,” said the mother of two children.
However, a few weeks ago, she was told unceremoniously that her participation in the Olympics was no longer needed.
Japan decided that the Olympics would not allow most of the spectators to enter the venue and continued to implement emergency measures during the Olympics, which affected volunteers.
“I am very disappointed,” said 37-year-old Akiko. “I have never really interacted with foreigners before because I have never left Japan. This is my dream.”
At that time, her volunteer uniform had been sent. Now it has not been worn through, and the sign is still hung on it.
The fired can still cheer, online
However, Akiko found another way to plunge into the Olympic atmosphere-she joined a project to sing the national anthem of each country.
Volunteers sang the national anthems of the countries participating in the Olympics together.
More than 1,300 volunteers participated in this project, devoted themselves to singing, and then uploaded the video to YouTube.
“There is no audience to support the athletes, so I really want to shout for them in this way,” said Akiko.
She sang the national anthem of Antigua and Barbuda-she had never heard of this country, but she and her seven-year-old daughter put on Japanese national costumes to complete it.
“The delegations of these countries watched these videos and told us that they really liked them. It made me feel close to these teams.”
Senior Volunteers
The selection of volunteers for any Olympic Games is very strict. The Tokyo Olympics 2020 received more than 200,000 volunteer applications, less than half of which were selected.
One of them was selected as Kato Katsuya, an energetic 79-year-old retiree.
79-year-old volunteer Katsuya Kato
“This is a great opportunity to improve myself,” he said. “I love sports, and until a few years ago, I was still running a marathon.”
He is not yet the oldest volunteer. Among the volunteers for the Tokyo Olympics, 139 are over 80 years old, and a few are over 90 years old. Japan’s population age structure is the oldest in the world, and many pensioners are not afraid of the threat of the new crown epidemic to perform their duties.
Nowhere to be moved
For Kato Katsuya, the most memorable moment was when the Japanese fencing team defeated the Russian Olympic Committee to win the gold medal.
Image source,Getty Images
Volunteers can’t cheer and shout, only applaud.
“I was very touched by seeing the team making history,” he said, “but we can’t make a sound or cheer, so I can’t express my happiness in any way.”
Kato is observing the new crown epidemic prevention guidelines word by word, but he said that it is difficult to ensure that the audience does the same.
“I feel very uncomfortable when I see reporters trying to enter restricted areas, or athletes cheering and yelling to support teammates.”
In order to better prevent the spread of COVID-19, calls are prohibited in the Olympic venues and only applause is allowed.
“Nothing to do”
For many volunteers, this Olympic Games will be held under emergency epidemic prevention, which will inevitably disappoint many of their expectations.
“I was looking forward to sharing the joy of victory and the bitterness of defeat with everyone,” Kato said, “but we volunteers can’t form a group.”
Another problem is doing nothing. Many volunteers have not been assigned tasks, so about one in ten volunteers withdrew.
Many volunteers have not been assigned tasks, so about one in ten volunteers withdrew.
“Some of us feel that we are not needed here at all,” said Ma Xia Zhongshan, a 31-year-old table tennis volunteer.
The organizers said that they did not want to further reduce the number of volunteers because they did not want to create more disappointments, but the result was that there were too many people and not enough work to do.
“Some of my colleagues have to stand next to the Olympic logo all day long,” said Asa Nakayama. “The only thing they do is to keep those who take selfies farther away from each other.”
She is very grateful to be a volunteer, but her biggest dream—meeting with basketball players—has been shattered.
“We are forbidden to talk to athletes because that will distract them,” she said. “We can only contact them when they need help. For things like’good job’ or’good ball’, we It cannot be said.”
Image source,Getty Images
She said that she has been cheering for them silently in her heart, but this is definitely different.
She feels very regretful that the public’s view of hosting the Olympics is so negative-both in Japan and the world.
“The Olympic Games should be a peaceful holiday,” she said, “but because of the new crown epidemic, it is seen as a sin.”
BBC International reporter Eddy Duan participated in the report