Agency :
Kazunori Takishima’s Olympic dream of setting a world record – a plan that had cost him almost US$40,000 – ended this week when organizers said spectators would be banned for most of the Games events.
Takishima had bought a hundred Tokyo 2020 tickets, saving and scheming for years in the hope of attending the most Olympic events ever.
“I stayed up until three in the morning with my mind completely blank,” Takishima said of his reaction to the decision to ban fans, wearing a headband emblazoned with the national symbol of Japan. “I was just really stunned by the news. I wish I had been able to cry. That would have helped relieve my stress.”
A Tokyo resident who runs a real estate office, Takishima, 45, said that for most of his life he’d had no interest in sports.
A chance visit to a skating competition and the echo of blades scraping on ice prompted him to attend the 2006 Torino Games, where he saw Japanese figure skater Shizuka Arakawa take gold. At that point, he was mesmerised by the Olympics.
