After more than a week of spectatorless Olympic arenas, fans arriving to the Izu Velodrome on Monday to view the action at close quarters are a welcome tonic for the beleaguered Games.
A 50% capacity of up to 1,800 is permitted at the track cycling venue up in the forested hills near Mount Fuji, outside Tokyo, where tougher COVID-19 restrictions apply.
These ticketed fans will become the first at these Games to watch events inside a venue, though thousands did line the roads for the cycling road races on the opening weekend, and there were spectators at events including the mountain biking and triathlon.