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.
Pierre Ducrey, Olympic Games operations director for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), insists there will be a hard-line approach to athletes, coaches and officials who fail to comply to a series of measures set out by organisers to reduce the risk posed by COVID-19.
COVID-19 Liaison Officers (CLOs) - who have been appointed by every National Olympic Committee (NOC) and National Paralympic Committee (NPC) attending the Games - will be tasked to alert officials to any breaches within their own delegation.
The disciplinary sanctions facing rule-breakers have been outlined in the third and final edition of the playbook, published today.
According to the document, athletes could face "warnings", "temporary or permanent withdrawal of your accreditation", "temporary or permanent ineligibility or exclusion from the Games", "disqualification" or "financial sanctions".
Athletes, who will have to comply with social distancing measures such as avoiding hugs and handshakes, have been barred from visiting tourist areas and will be tested daily at the Games.
Ducrey admits organisers will rely "a lot" on people taking responsibility for their actions but insists the IOC will impose sanctions if they break the rules.
"Should there be no respect of the rules in the playbook this could lead to consequences that could have an impact on participation at the Games or access to the Games venues or a number of consequences which participants need to be aware of," said Ducrey.
"If you fail to comply with the rules, if you - for example - refuse to take a test and don’t have an accompanying justification or break the rules when it comes to physical distancing or break any other rules presented in the playbook this would result in disciplinary consequences.
"We know already from many discussions that the organisation will come with very strict rules, and we will make sure their participants will abide by those rules."
Ducrey said about 3,000 CLOs at the Games would act as the "extended arm of the organisers" to ensure participants keep in line with the COVID-19 countermeasures.
"This will be a very critical role in each delegation where a person or persons depending on the size of the delegation has been selected to manage the implementation of the COVID-19 countermeasures within the delegation," said Ducrey.
"This means they are the ones briefing their delegation, making sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do and oversee the testing."
Ducrey said the CLO would also be responsible for informing organisers of any potential breaches of the rules.
"You cannot expect people to follow guidance if they don’t understand, hence the critical role of the CLOs," added Ducrey.
"Their role will be to explain the rules but also to monitor the behaviour of their own delegation.
"Should there be issues within their team, they are the ones to address them.
"Should anybody see something that they feel is absolutely needs to be addressed beyond the organisation’s own behaviour [rules] then there is a channel to elevate the information to the IOC via the CLO.
"We hope not to have to deal with too many cases, but if that was to be the case we will be equipped to deal with those cases under the disciplinary act."
IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi said he was unable to give details on the scale of fines that could be handed out, insisting it was the role of the Disciplinary Commission to impose the sanctions.
Organisers have faced public opposition over the staging of the Games due to the threat of COVID-19, with Tokyo currently under a state of emergency.
Hidemasa Nakamura, delivery officer for Tokyo 2020, claims the playbooks will boost the confidence to Japanese people.
Nakamura said the Japanese Government has warned attendees at the Games could face deportation if they make a "malicious violation", including posing a "risk to somebody’s health or life".
"Having a diligent control on compliance will give safety and confidence to Japanese people," said Nakamura.
"It will also give additional confidence for athletes to be able to compete safely."
The 70-page playbook also reveals details of coronavirus testing with the creation of the Tokyo 2020 Infectious Diseases Control Centre (IDCC), IOC and IPC COVID-19 Support Unit (ICSU) and the Results Advisory Expert Group (RAEG).
The IDCC will be a "central hub" for information and management for all COVID-19 matters, including public health surveillance, screening testing, case management and incident response.
CLOs are expected to receive additional assistance from the ICSU while the RAEG will provide case assessment and protocols for "complex cases", as well as guidance on the early management of potential close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Should Athletes' Village residents test positive - results are expected to come back within 12 hours - the infected individual will undergo a PRC test within three to five hours.
Nakamura said athletes would undergo testing at 9am or 6pm each day to ensure it would not have a "negative impact" on their performance.
There will also be temperature checks before entering venues.
Oversees attendees will also be asked not to eat, drink, smoke or brush their teeth or use mouthwash within 30 minutes of arrival when they will undergo a saliva antigen test.
The results are expected to be processed while they go through immigration and collect their luggage.
"Eighty per cent are vaccinated and have been tested twice before so we expect most of them to be negative before moving to the Olympic Village," added Nakamura.
"If they are positive, we will take them to a special clinic where we will ask them to take another PCR because it could be false positive."
Press can be expected to be tested every four days while participants who are deemed to have limited or no contact with "level one participants" will undergo a test once every seven days.
The third version of the playbook for athletes is available here.