Tokyo Olympics: logistics nightmare sees Fiji team fly ‘cargo class’ as Sri Lankan athletes go via Middle East instead of Singapore

Fiji had tried to coordinate with other South Pacific nations to ‘do a milk run’ and collect their athletes as well, but found it ‘wasn’t commercially viable’

Other teams, such as Sri Lanka’s, are set to travel thousands of kilometres in the wrong direction amid upended flight schedules and closed borders

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Fiji Airways has suspended all commercial flights, so the country’s athletes are having to fly to Tokyo on a service that generally transports chilled seafood and express mail. Image: New Zealand Herald

Published: 11:46am, 5 Jul 2021Updated: 11:48am, 5 Jul 2021

Ensuring 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries descend on one city over the course of 16 days is a logistical challenge at the best of times. Now consider doing it at the tail end of a pandemic that has upended airlines’ flight schedules, closed international borders and made any movement without jabs and multiple Covid-19 tests impossible.

For hundreds of Olympic organising officials eyeing the start of the Tokyo Games in just 18 days it is a major headache. Forget about medal tallies and post-race parties – to the limited extent they are permitted at all – just getting to Japan on time is half the battle.

The team from Fiji, a tiny Pacific island nation best known for its pristine beaches and tropical seas, isn’t flying coach so much as cargo – the Rugby Sevens men's and women's, plus a handful of other athletes including some swimmers and sailors, are flying from Nadi to Narita on a service that generally transports chilled seafood and express mail.

Police enforce mandatory face mask protocols in Fiji's capital Suva last month. Photo: AFP

“Travel is definitely a major challenge,” said Lorraine Mar, head of the Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee. “Fiji Airways isn’t doing any commercial flights at the current time so we’re going up on a cargo run.”

Mar said Fiji was trying to coordinate with other South Pacific nations to “do a milk run around the other islands to collect everyone, but it wasn’t commercially viable”.