Tokyo preparations on track
With Olympics six months away, organisers sell 5 million tickets as venues nearly complete
>> TOKYO: With yesterday marking exactly six months until the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, organisers’ preparations are on track and public interest appears to be building, despite some remaining challenges.
Nearly 5 million tickets for the Olympics, accounting for roughly half of the total, have already been sold domestically after two phases of heavily subscribed lotteries.
Lagging facility construction for the Olympics and Paralympics is unlikely to make headlines again, with the last two of nine new venues in the Japanese capital expected to be completed by March and all 21 residential buildings in the athletes’ village to be in place before the village opens on July 14.
As part of security preparations for the games, the Japan Coast Guard conducted a counter terrorism drill yesterday on a passenger ship at Tokyo’s Takeshiba Pier, close to the waterfront precinct where the athletes’ village is under construction.
The Tokyo metropolitan government, meanwhile, held an emergency meeting after a second infection with a new coronavirus was confirmed in Japan.
As the deadly virus spreads rapidly in China and beyond, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters that the capital should “undertake both risk management and the Japanese way of hospitality.”
There have been some other challenges as well. The most notable blemish in the Summer Games’ buildup for local organisers has been the relocation of the marathon and race walks events to the northern city of Sapporo at the behest of the International Olympic Committee.
The IOC made the abrupt decision last October, citing concerns about the extreme summertime temperatures in Tokyo. The world body was spurred to move the events following the disastrous women’s marathon at the world athletics championships in Doha, Qatar, a month earlier, which saw dozens of runners pull out with heat exhaustion. The Tokyo Games organisers have scrambled to get their dates and courses in Sapporo settled but must still arrange transport and lodgings for some 2,000 athletes and staff.
Sports analytics firm Gracenote released its medal prediction yesterday, saying Japan will reach their target of a record 30 gold medals. According to the prediction, the hosts will claim 65 medals and finish on the medal table behind the United States, China and Russia, who could be banned from the games.
Russian athletes face the possibility of having to compete under the Olympic flag as individual athletes following a ban imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency over alleged state-sponsored doping and coverups. Russia’s anti-doping agency Rusada has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The Olympics will be held in Tokyo and nine prefectures across eastern Japan at 24 venues inside the capital and 17 outside, while the Paralympics will be in Tokyo and three other prefectures. The organisers have scheduled 56 test events in the run-up to both games to identify any issues and ensure smooth running.
The games will be a nationwide affair thanks to the 478 “host towns” across all 47 prefectures, welcoming athletes from 163 countries and regions for camps and cultural exchanges in a firstof-its-kind programme.
The Japan segment of the 121day torch relay for the Olympic flame, dubbed the “Flame of Recovery,” will start on March 26 at the J-Village football training centre in Fukushima Prefecture, which served as an emergency response headquarters during the 2011 nuclear crisis.
The flame will be lit using hydrogen including some produced in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, as it travels through all 47 prefectures.
The Japan Air Self-Defence Force “Blue Impulse” aerobatic team yesterday drew the Olympic symbol in the sky over Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi Prefecture in a practice run for a ceremony to mark the arrival of the torch on March 20.
Along with holdovers from Tokyo’s previous Olympics in 1964, such as Nippon Budokan for judo and karate, the venues inside the metropolis will be a mixture of legacy sites and cuttingedge facilities.
The completed 60,000-seat National Stadium will host the Olympic and Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies, along with athletic events and Olympic football. The 2020 centrepiece, with a nature-themed exterior, began operation on New Year’s Day.
On Thursday, the official uniform of the Japanese national team to be worn by athletes at the games was unveiled. KYODO