New Zealand Olympic officials have gathered in Auckland over the last two days to formulate a plan to take the team to and from the Tokyo Games safely in the wake of the increasing Covid-19 crisis in Japan.
Japan extended its state of emergency for Tokyo and other prefectures by three weeks yesterday, as calls for the Games to be cancelled continued to ramp up.
A recently released poll revealed 80 per cent of Japanese locals want the Games either cancelled or postponed and taking aim at International Olympic Committee boss Thomas Bach.
"I can tell that Mr Bach doesn't understand Japan's situation and he doesn't know how nervous people are feeling," 68-year-old business owner Hiroaki Nishikawa said.
But New Zealand remain steadfast in its commitment to participating, with athletes keen to participate in the event they have trained to compete in for years.
"Our mandate is to take our Olympics teams away and to bring them back safely," New Zealand Olympic team chef de mission Rob Waddell told 1 NEWS.
"We know the athletes have been working incredibly hard for the last year and we know they want to go and we know sport is really important to the New Zealand public and to the world."
No Kiwis have pulled out of the Games so far, but with the ever-changing and heightened situation comes a greater pressure on the athletes and a greater need for mental fortitude.
"There's a natural sense of hypervigilance around health and knowing you're going into an environment that's going to be very controlled and restrictive, so for them it's about making sure they're doing everything they can to keep themselves healthy and safe and clear enough to keep their attention on the performance," NZOC psychology lead Kylie Wilson said.
While the IOC claims at least 80 per cent of athletes at the Games will be vaccinated, they will reportedly also require all athletes to sign a waiver releasing Tokyo organisers of all liability for Covid-19 issues, including death.
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