Athletes to put on their own medals at Tokyo Olympic Games
There are only nine days left until the start of the Tokyo Olympics and due to the coronavirus pandemic the athletes will have to put on their own medals.
The increase in coronavirus cases in Tokyo has forced the Olympic organizing committee to modify a longstanding tradition. On Wednesday it was confirmed that Olympic athletes who make the podium will have to put on their own medals.
Contactless ceremony during the 2020 Olympic games
"The medals will not be given around the neck," Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, said on Wednesday. "They will be presented to the athlete on a tray, and then the athlete will take the medal to him or herself.”
"It will be made sure that the person who will put the medal on the tray will do so only with disinfected gloves so that the athlete can be sure that nobody touched them before," he said during a conference call with international reporters.
The medal ceremony will be completely contactless and there will be no handshakes or hugs amongst the winners in every sport. The campaign is set to start on 23 July amid a state of emergency in Japan with the rising cases of coronavirus.