Page 26 - IB August 2021

Olympics Olympics

100m sprinters from the Pacific
COVERING A RESTRICTED

TOKYO 2020 GAMES

By Makereta Komai the test kit, and deposit the sample at a designated drop-off
point.
Makereta Komai is the editor of Pacnews and covered the
Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She describes the experience for Islands Media Playbook
Business. To ensure a safe and successful Olympic Games, the Inter-
The 2020 Olympics was a journey of many firsts for me national Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo 2020 Organ-
personally – my first Olympic Games, my first quarantine ising Committee created a series of Playbooks for athletes and
lockdown under strict police presence and first international officials, administrators, media and broadcasters - that sets
event where media access was heavily restricted due to the out the parameters of what could and could be done at the
COVID-19 pandemic. Tokyo Games.
Preparing for the travel was a mammoth task – I needed Every journalist was required to submit a 14-day Activity
two negative swab tests, one each at 96 and 72 hours before Plan outlining coverage plan, games venue and interview
leaving Fiji, a border pass to get through Wainadoi to get to schedules for the duration of the Games. If approved, the
Nadi International airport and a quarantine exemption from Activity Plan determined access to events, venues and ath-
the New South Wales (NSW) State Government to exempt me letes for the journalist. The journalist was not allowed access
from the mandated 14-day quarantine required for everyone to anything outside the Activity Plan. Access to the Olympic
entering Australia. Games Village was shut down to limit contact with athletes
Arriving in Sydney, NSW State Police were on hand to escort after cases of COVID-19 were detected from arriving athletes.
me directly to the quarantine facility, an apartment close to For Games access, The Playbook required online book-
the airport – where I was directed not to leave the room until ing 12-24 hours prior to the start of the event before access
my flight the following evening. Security officers were posted was granted. This was one of the major challenges faced by
on all the floors of the seven storey up-market apartment journalists particularly from small island countries, like us in
– and the only time I was allowed to open the door was for the Pacific – where priority was given to major international
meal delivery. Departing the quarantine facility, I was again television networks and newspapers for most of the events.
escorted by two NSW police officers and directed to a sepa- However, media access to the rugby competition was not
rate check-in counter before security clearance. I later learnt an issue - obviously with three countries in Oceania - Fiji,
that beyond the security check-in, the two NSW police officers Australia and New Zealand defending their medal titles at the
handed me to an Australian Federal Police Officer, whose job Olympics, I was able to cover the men and women’s competi-
was to escort me right to the door of the plane. tion, without any hassle.
As if that were not enough – the arrival at Haneda Inter- Transportation to and from competition venues was another
national Airport was another experience. The set up for major hindrance – especially when you are not allowed to use
COVID-19 test for all arriving passengers was like manoeu- public transport during the first 14 days on the ground. Of-
vring a labyrinth – that took five hours of zig-zagging around ficial transport was only limited to permitted destinations and
departure gates and rooms cordoned off for various COVID-19 venues – leaving most journalists to cover their own transport
counter-measure checks, including a negative saliva antigen costs to venues and events that were not on the official list of
test to give you the green light to enter the country. A positive free transport.
result would mean immediate 14-day isolation and medical
treatment. Team Oceania at Tokyo 2020
Once you enter the country, all your movements are Labelled as ‘Oceania’ in IOC continental groupings - the
monitored through a contact tracing app for the Games. All group represents 17 countries and territories in the Pacific
foreigners were required to collect their saliva sample daily, including Australia and New Zealand.
register the sample online using a barcode that came with Through a shared services programme provided by ONOC,

26 Islands Business, August 2021