Preparing for the Coviddelayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics
I was appointed chef de mission of the Jamaican team to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in January 2019. My first assignment was to attend the final of four site meetings in Tokyo, Japan, in March 2019. The meetings were conducted daily over approximately four days, with the day usually ending with tours of various Olympic venues, including the main Olympic stadium.
The key takeaway from the trip was to ensure athletes and officials flew into Tokyo via Haneda Airport, which was approximately 15 minutes from the Olympic Village (OLV); The other airport, Narita, required a 90-minute drive to the OLV.
It was also interesting to discover that the OLV was built with the intention to convert the 20-odd 12-story buildings overlooking the waterfront into upscale residential complexes approximately 18 months after the end of the Olympics. No white elephants for Tokyo.
The first chef de mission meetings were held in August 2019 in Japan.
I was accompanied by logistics expert Gregory Hamilton and spent about four days in various intensive meetings, which concluded with tours of Olympic venues. We signed off on the colours for the Jamaican flag and agreed to the national anthem to be played in the stadium, among other Olympics-related activities.
Each month following the August meeting involved activities designed to meet timelines to achieve a successful Olympics for our athletes; for example, number of ice baths in the OLV, estimating the size of the final team/delegation to the Olympics, prepayment of rooms in the OLV, flight itineraries, accreditation — press, athletes, and officials, etc.
All preparations were “on track” and then COVID-19 arrived.
The 2020 Olympic Games were postponed, due to COVID-19, but most people had feared it would have been cancelled eventually. We spent most of 2020 listening to a variety of stories surrounding the probability of the Olympics Games being held, whilst all local preparations for the Games were suspended indefinitely.
The “new” 2020 Tokyo Olympics was scheduled to start on July 23, 2021 and end August 8, 2021. The first material change was the introduction of a new position on the team — COVID liaison officer (CLO). The CLO would be responsible for all matters concerning COVID policies, protocols and, most importantly, interactions with every single member of the delegation. Since the delegation exceeded 100 people, a deputy CLO was also needed.
The final team composition was Gary Peart, chef; Peter Higgins, deputy chef; Elaine Hayden, CLO; Lisa Jondeau, deputy CLO; Gregory Hamilton, logistics; Walter J Davis, games specialist, and Doctors Lincoln Cox and Kevin Jones.
Rightly or wrongly, history will tell whether there will ever be another Olympics like Tokyo 2020.