Tokyo 2020 organisers receive the Olympic flame despite shadow of coronavirus

Brief ceremony takes place behind closed to spectators in Athens

An Athlete carries the Olympic torch during the Olympic flame handover ceremony for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. Getty

Spyros Capralos, president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, with former Japanese swimmer Naoko Imoto. EPA

An empty Panathenaic Stadium. Getty

Former Japanese swimmer Naoko Imoto lights the Olympic flame. EPA

The Olympic torch is lit during the flame handover ceremony in Athens for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. AFP

Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, dressed as an ancient Greek high priestess, lights the Olympic torch during the flame handover ceremony in Athens for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. AP

A Japan's flag is raised next to the Olympic flag. AFP

Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, dressed as an ancient Greek high priestess, during the flame handover ceremony in Athens for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. AP

The Olympic flame. AFP

An athlete by the Japanese flag. AFP

Tokyo 2020 organisers received the Olympic flame in a scaled-down handover ceremony in Athens on Thursday, despite the shadow of coronavirus that looms large over the event.

In a brief ceremony closed to spectators in the Greek capital's Panathenaic Stadium, site of the first modern Games in 1896, the torch was received by Tokyo Games representative Naoko Imoto.

It will arrive in Japan on Friday and kick off a domestic relay on March 26, with the Games scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9.

The scale of the spreading coronavirus, which has infected more than 220,000 people and killed more than 9,000 across the world, has forced the cancellation of numerous sporting events, raising concerns about whether the Olympics will be able to go ahead as planned.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government, however, have insisted the Games will go ahead.

Greece's Olympic Committee chief Spyros Capralos handed over the lit torch to the Japanese former Olympic swimmer Imoto in front of empty stands inside the vast 50,000-capacity horseshoe-shaped marble stadium.

The flame was then transferred into a small receptacle to travel to Japan aboard a special aircraft named "Tokyo 2020 Go."

Only a few dozen officials were allowed into the central Athens stadium as the country has imposed strict measures to contain the spread of the virus.

Tokyo Games chief Yoshiro Mori said in a video message he hoped the flame's arrival would help "shake off the dark clouds hanging over the world."

The plane will land at JASDF Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi Prefecture on Friday before the start of a domestic relay from Fukushima Prefecture, site of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.