Australia’s women’s national softball team became the first international female participant to arrive in Japan ahead of the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, a vote of confidence in a battered event battling a coronavirus outbreak and growing public opposition.
The 23 players and 10 staff, all vaccinated against Covid-19, landed at Narita International Airport outside Tokyo and traveled to the city of Ota, where they will train before moving to the Olympic Village on July 17.
The team known as the Aussie Spirit must severely restrict their movements as Japan seeks to contain a sustained fourth wave of the coronavirus. On Friday, the Japanese government extended the state of emergency in Tokyo and eight other prefectures until June 20. In other prefectures – including Gunma, where the Australian players will be training – emergency measures are in place that will limit the hours and capacities of companies in certain locations, ending 6/13.
New infections every day have declined by more than 40 percent in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database, but Japan is still seeing more than 3,500 cases a day, most since January.
The Australian team will be confined to one level of a hotel where the players eat, train and meet. You can only leave the hotel to exercise.
“They will be extremely limited in what they can do each day and that will require another sacrifice for them, but it is a sacrifice they are ready,” Ian Chesterman, vice president of the Australian Olympic Committee, said Monday .
The players have not been competing against international teams since February 2020 as Australia’s borders have been almost completely closed since the beginning of the pandemic. Their early arrival in Japan will enable them to train against Japanese professional softball clubs and the Japanese national team. Out of the 23 Australian players who traveled to Japan, a team of 15 will be selected for the games, which are set to begin on July 23.
