Earlier this week in Lausanne, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announced the names of the 29 athletes who will compete in Tokyo on the Refugee Olympic Team.

Like it did six decades ago when it hosted its first Olympics, Japan had hoped to do the same in 2020 with the staging of the Summer Games—use the global event as a catalyst for a technological and infrastructural revolution in the country.

Participants could be thrown out of this year’s delayed Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo if they violate strict COVID-19 rules outlined in the "playbooks", organisers have warned.

The Japanese Government has struck a deal with Pfizer to provide another 20,000 workers involved in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics with the company's COVID-19 vaccine.