During the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) online open discussion on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Tuesday, Lucia Montanarella, head of the Olympic Games Media Operations, told journalists from over 110 countries and regions gathered by the AIPS that covering the Tokyo Olympic Games will be very challenging.

"It's practically impossible to create a bubble including the media, because they will not be inside the Olympic Village but will be staying in different hotels. We are doing whatever we can to make sure that whoever wants to travel to Tokyo will cover the Games," she said.

"We redesigned the venues and all the press areas have been adjusted for the requirements of physical distancing: two meters from athletes and one meter from the rest of the stakeholders. By applying these restrictions, we obviously lost an enormous capacity of media positions, especially for photographers."

On February 4, a playbook with all the regulations and restrictions for the accredited press will be presented by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). On February 10, an online briefing with IOC members will take place to discuss these measures.

Montanarella said AIPS created four scenarios to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic for this summer's rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games.

"We created four different scenarios, one that had travel restrictions, clusters, to one where the pandemic was nearly gone. The present scenario is very much like one of those that we'd created, with the pandemic still among us," she added.

"Sports events are taking place, athletes are training and competing, but we know that we are facing a huge challenge, that is to create a bubble for all athletes."

More than 280 journalists attended the online meeting with the AIPS.

Working under the unpredictable trajectory of the pandemic has been a learning process for everybody, and as Montanarella described some of the challenges as a learning process, she also envisioned the joy of the first day in Tokyo. "I will be in tears, for sure," she concluded.

(With input from agencies)

(Cover photo: A wall promoting the Tokyo Olympic Games on the day marking 6-month to go to the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, January 23, 2021. /CFP)