Around 10,000 volunteers quit Olympic Games

Tokyo, June 4 (RHC)-- About 10,000 volunteers have resigned from participating in the Olympic Games, a figure that exceeds 10 percent of the number required by the Organizing Committee, local broadcaster NHK reported.

According to the media outlet, the casualties are due to concerns about the rise of COVID-19 in the Asian nation or changes in availability due to the postponement of the event from one year to the next, among other reasons.  Prior to the arrival of the pandemic and the date change, Tokyo 2020 organizers had recruited 80,000 volunteers for support work at the competitions, as well as with athletes and spectators.

The report indicates that the resignations began in February of this year due to the dissatisfaction caused by sexist comments made by the former president of the Organizing Committee Yoshiro Mori.  Since then, the number has steadily risen to the current number, due to concerns about the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, availability difficulties, job relocations and other factors.

In addition, the Tokyo government has reportedly recruited another 30,000 people, among whom there were also resignations, although the total number is unknown.  The lack of volunteers is another of the many problems that the summer event is facing in the Japanese capital, whose main enemy is the growing popular demand for its cancellation.

A month and a half before the lighting of the cauldron, the city of Tokyo, along with 10 other prefectures, remains in a state of emergency due to the fourth wave of COVID-19 that is sweeping the Japanese archipelago.