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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
SportHong Kong

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Hong Kong’s UCI Track Cycling Nations Cup ‘live bubble’ offers glimpse into Covid-19-cursed Games

  • UCI head of track Peruzzi praises ‘well-oiled’ Hong Kong model as organisers use it as reference for Tokyo and Cali
  • Organising committee chairman Leung reflects on high expenses, last-minute pull-outs and ‘Tokyo rehearsal’

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The German men’s team in an interview at the UCI Track Cycling Nations Cup at the Hong Kong Velodrome in Tseung Kwan O. Photo: Cycling Association of Hong Kong
Andrew McNicol
Wondering how in the world the already postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be held despite the still-dominant pandemic? Look no further than last weekend’s UCI Track Cycling Nations Cup in Hong Kong.
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There is, of course, no comparing the scale of athletes, coaches and staff entering and leaving the respective Asian cities; nor the latest Covid-19 figures, in which Tokyo is averaging 784 cases a day (Japan as a whole averaging 6,000), while Hong Kong is within reach of ‘zero local infections’, according to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

But the spectator-less ‘live bubble’ equipped with separate injury- and Covid-19-related medical teams seen at the Hong Kong Velodrome is expected to be implemented by the Tokyo Olympic Committee and relevant organisers as they attempt to prove the sceptical Japanese public wrong.

“I cannot say whether [the Nations Cup] will be used as a reference, but we have seen the bubble plan that is being prepared for the Tokyo Games and it is very much similar to what has been put in place here,” said Gilles Peruzzi, UCI head of track, para-cycling and indoor cycling. He was part of the competition bubble just metres away from non-bubbled journalists and therefore conducting interviews remotely.

Hong Kong’s Jessica Lee Hoi-yan (right) in the women’s keirin 7th-to-12th place race-off at the Nations Cup. Photo: May Tse
Hong Kong’s Jessica Lee Hoi-yan (right) in the women’s keirin 7th-to-12th place race-off at the Nations Cup. Photo: May Tse
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“I’m not sure which one is the reference [for which], but this is for sure a very good model for the Olympics. If similar measures are taken in Tokyo, I have no concern that it will likewise be safe,” he said, reiterating the need for the Games to go ahead, not just for governing body UCI, but track cycling as a whole.

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