2020 Olympics: Tokyo test events continue with track cycling mixed zone scrapped

Sunday’s test event was the first since the postponement of the Summer Games to have a mixed zone where journalists interview athletes after their events

Reading Time:2 minutes

Riders compete during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics test event at the Izu Velodrome, in Izu. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:07pm, 26 Apr 2021Updated: 1:07pm, 26 Apr 2021

Tokyo Olympics test events continued with track cycling on Sunday but planned in-person rider interviews were changed to an online format, as a worsening coronavirus situation in Japan forces organisers to adjust their programmes.

One of Hong Kong’s leading medal hopes in Tokyo is track cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze, who claimed a bronze medal at the London Olympics in 2012.

Sunday’s test event was to have been the first since the postponement of the Summer Games to have a mixed zone where journalists interview athletes after their events.

Instead, four riders were selected to appear on an online meeting platform at the end of the day while the barriers for the mixed zone were set up but went unused.

Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto, herself a former Olympic track cyclist, said organisers would have to take advantage of technology amid the pandemic.

“With the test events this time there are clear issues that have emerged. I think from now we will start working on these issues one by one with great care,” she told reporters.

2020 Olympics: Tokyo test events continue with track cycling mixed zone scrapped

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Sunday’s test event was the first since the postponement of the Summer Games to have a mixed zone where journalists interview athletes after their events

Sunday’s test event was the first since the postponement of the Summer Games to have a mixed zone where journalists interview athletes after their events