Gymnasts from Japan, the United States, China and Russia will gather at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo for an international meet beginning Sunday.
This is the first tournament for an Olympic sport that includes foreign athletes to be held in Japan since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The tournament will be the focus of intense attention both in Japan and overseas, as it is regarded as an important test case for next summer's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), which is putting on the event, emphasized the FIG's seriousness about infection control.
"We will not let coronavirus be brought into Japan, and nobody from the international squads will be infected," he said.
At the practice venue Friday, athletes entered after having their temperature checked by security personnel, sanitizing their hands and being sprayed with an antimicrobial mist.
To prevent crowding, practice times were adjusted so each country practiced in a separately allotted time slot.
Teams are renting out entire floors separated by country at their hotels, and undergo PCR tests every morning. Their areas of movement are completely separate from those used by regular guests, and they are prohibited from going out without permission.
The rules are unprecedentedly strict, and infractions could result in athletes losing their eligibility. The foreign athletes appeared fully aware of the importance of the tournament.
"I wanted to go on a tour in Tokyo, but it is impossible to do that this time and I totally understand," said Angelina Melnikova, a 20-year-old Russian who took part in an online press conference after practice on Friday.
The Chinese team arrived in Japan on Thursday, looking serious in their personal protective equipment and masks.
The FIG is also emphasizing infection control for spectators. Out of about 8,700 seats, tickets are only being sold for about 2,600, or 30 percent of the total.
Spectators will present an electronic ticket that is displayed after they fill out a health questionnaire. They will not be allowed to throw away used masks and tissues at the venue.
Amid the ongoing pandemic, tests of techniques intended to find a "new way of competing" have been incorporated into the running of the tournament.
In the vault competition, artificial intelligence will first provide an assessment of difficulty, which is then confirmed by two referees.
The technology was originally developed to eliminate human scoring errors, and until now has been only used in a complementary role together with human referees. However, because having fewer referees could reduce crowding, it was decided to examine the outcomes with an eye to using the AI in a larger role in major tournaments in the future.
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