Japanese Volunteers Who Missed Chance at Tokyo Games Raring to Go as World Athletics Championships Approaches

By Sho Matsushita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

13:42 JST, September 3, 2025

For many volunteers of the World Athletics Championships, which opens in Tokyo next week, the event will give them the chance to finally welcome spectators to a major international competition. A lot of them were scheduled to help out at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics but missed out because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Training sessions for registered volunteers have entered the final stretch, while municipalities hosting training camps for overseas teams are preparing to give incoming athletes a warm welcome.

Hosted by the World Athletics, the world’s premier sporting event takes place every two years. This year is the first time since 1991 for Tokyo to host the event and Japan’s third overall, including the 2007 Osaka event.

This year, over 2,000 athletes from about 200 countries and regions will compete across 49 events between Sept. 13 and 21 at the National Stadium.

“It’s a long-awaited event and many spectators will be there,” said Nobuyuki Taguchi, a 46-year-old company employee from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture. “I’m thrilled.”

Taguchi applied for the volunteer program as soon as recruitment began last November. He made the cut with a one-in-three chance of being accepted.

His job is to check tickets at the gates. He created his own list of potential questions and answers to be ready to cope with various inquiries from spectators and gathered information about participating athletes online.

Taguchi watches sports as a hobby. His first volunteer experience was at the Tokyo Olympics, where he was assigned to be a guide at the beach volleyball venue.

He was looking forward to interacting with visitors from Japan and abroad. However, the Games ended up being spectator-free due to the pandemic, and Taguchi’s duty was changed to guide athletes. While he cherished the memories of being thanked by the athletes, Taguchi regretted not being able to connect with spectators.

Taguchi sees the upcoming championships, a major event with an expected worldwide audience of 1 billion, as the perfect opportunity to make up for the disappointment from four years ago.

“I want to hear lots of ‘thank yous,’” he said.

About 3,400 volunteers signed up for the volunteer program, according to a local organizing committee. The volunteers received training on basic things, such as the event schedule, and then moved on to specific duties from Aug. 25. Many had previously volunteered at the Tokyo Games, like Taguchi.

“The efforts of the volunteers are indispensable,” the committee’s spokesperson said. “We want to work together to create the best event.”

Meanwhile, local governments hosting training camps for national teams are also looking forward to interacting with the athletes.

Training locations were decided through direct negotiations between national teams and local governments hosting them. Many municipalities that hosted pre-tournament camps for the Tokyo Games will host the same nations again.

One such case is Gifu Prefecture, which will host Canada’s training camp. In the run-up to the Games, interactions between Canadian athletes and Gifu residents were limited to online events. The aim this time, however, is to “create many opportunities for direct interactions,” a prefectural government official said.

A welcoming reception for the Canadian team is scheduled for Sunday, and the team’s coaches will instruct students from athletics clubs at local junior high and high schools on Tuesday.

Nine members of the music club at Gifu City’s Miwa Junior High School will perform the Canadian national anthem at the reception. They are practicing under the instruction of a professional vocalist who has sung national anthems at international competitions.

“We want to directly convey our support to the athletes,” said Mitsuki Sakai, who leads the club.

Misato, Saitama Prefecture, will host the Greek team. The municipality launched a crowdfunding campaign in May to cover the costs of renting training equipment for the athletes and exchange events, raising about ¥4.8 million, close to its target, in three months.

“We hope it will be a good opportunity for children to discover their dreams or goals,” a city official said.