A Japanese super-fan who spent $40,000 on tickets for the Tokyo Olympics has been left 'heartbroken' by the ban on spectators which dashed his hopes of setting a world record.

Kazunori Takishima, 45, bought 197 tickets for various events before domestic fans were included in the ban in a bid to protect the event from coronavirus. The businessman has been to every summer and winter Games in the past 15 years and had hoped to break the world record for seeing the greatest number of ticketed Olympic events in a lifetime.

With the Games finally in his home country, he snapped up 197 tickets for himself and others. But then organizers made the decision to bar fans from almost all Olympic events because of coronavirus risks, and Takishima decided to watch the opening ceremony from outside the gates of the 68,000-seat stadium instead. He was on the verge of tears as he watched the opening ceremony outside the Olympic Stadium on his phone on Friday, cheering and applauding with a crowd of other fans.