Daily tests, cardboard beds: 24 hours at Tokyo's Olympic Village

Autonomous electric vehicles will be used at the Olympic Village

Beds and partition walls in the Olympic Village are made from sturdy recyclable cardboard

For athletes competing at the Tokyo Games, the Olympic Village will be almost all they see, with strict coronavirus rules preventing them from leaving the compound except to train and compete.

Their stay in the village will also be shorter than usual: competitors can only arrive five days before their event, and must leave within 48 hours of winning or losing.

- 6:30am -

As in many Japanese homes, space is limited, however -- single rooms measure just nine square metres (100 square feet), and doubles 12 square metres.

- 7:00am -

A positive result and a second positive on a more accurate PCR test means a trip to the fever clinic, a small prefab building in the centre of the village.

- 7:30am -

On the way to get breakfast, athletes can check an app that shows how crowded communal areas are, including the two floors of the vast 3,000-seat canteen.

Village residents are asked to eat alone to avoid spreading potentially contagious droplets. Each seat is screened off with plexiglass.

- 9:00am -

Masks are mandatory even when getting sweaty, and even though the gym machines are cleaned frequently, users are recommended to disinfect them before they start. 

Public transport and walks outside the village are forbidden, so athletes must take dedicated buses from the site -- built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay -- to competition venues or training centres.

On their return to the village, Olympic teams can stop off at the "Village Plaza", a wooden annex incorporating traditional Japanese construction techniques.

- 7:00pm -

Each one can seat 19 passengers and there's a human operator on board just in case.

After dinner, athletes aren't obliged to stay cooped up in their rooms. The Village recreation centre beckons, with Nintendo consoles and spaces to relax, or they can wander around the waterside park.

Violations of any rules will be punished, organisers have said -- with disqualification from the Games a possibility.

Competitors aren't allowed to bring family members with them to the Games. But before bed, they can chat with loved ones back home using free wifi.

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