500 DAYS TO GO!
TOKYO—Tick tock, tick tock. The Tokyo Olympic clock has hit 500 days to go. Organizers marked the milestone on Tuesday, unveiling the stylized pictogram figures for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. The pictogram system was first used extensively in 1964 when the Japanese capital last hosted the Summer Olympics—just 19 years after the end of World War II.
A picture system to illustrate sports events was used in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and 12 years later in London. Other Olympics sporadically used some drawings for the same purpose.
But the ‘64 Olympics originated the standardized symbols that have become familiar in every Olympics since then.
Japanese athletes posed with the pictograms and their designer, Masaaki Hiromura. Organizers also toured regions that will host Olympic events, including the area north of Tokyo that was devastated by a 2011 earthquake, tsunami and resulting damage to nearby nuclear reactors. “They are simple but yet dynamic,” Hiromura said, explaining his designs to several hundred people. “These are pictograms that look like they are about to start moving.” Hiromura designed 50 pictograms for 33 sports. Some sports will use more than one pictogram when the Olympic open on July 24, 2020. The ‘64 Tokyo Olympics came up with the pictograms, partly because the games were the first in Asia and held in a country where the language was inaccessible to many international visitors. Unlike other recent Olympics, construction projects are largely on schedule. The new National Stadium, the centerpiece of the games, is to be completed by the end of the year at a cost estimated at $1.25 billion.
That’s not to say these Olympics are problem free.
Costs continue to rise, although local organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) say they are cutting costs—or at least slowing the rise.
As an example, last month organizers said the cost of the opening and closing ceremonies had risen by 40 percent compared with the forecast in 2013 when Tokyo was awarded the games.
Overall, Tokyo is spending at least $20 billion to host the Olympics. About 75 percent of this is public money, although costs are difficult to track with arguments over what are—and what are not—Olympic expenses. That figure is about three times larger than the bid forecast in 2013.
Tsunekazu Takeda, the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) and a powerful IOC member, is also being investigated in a vote-buying scandal that may have helped Tokyo land the Olympics. Takeda has denied wrongdoing and has not resigned from any of his positions with the IOC or in Japan. He is up for reelection to the JOC this summer and could face pressure to step aside.
FIFA STUDY BACKS 48-TEAM CUP
A FIFA feasibility study concluded the 2022 World Cup can expand to 48 teams by using at least one of Qatar’s neighbors as an additional host, and found there is a low legal risk to changing the format and an additional $400 million in revenue could be generated. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the 81-page report on Monday that assesses the political, logistical and legal issues surrounding adding 16 teams—a significant change to the format more than eight years after Qatar won the hosting
rights. The report was prepared by the governing body
Iso its Fifa Council can agree in principle on expanding the tournament at a meeting in Miami on Friday. A final decision would come in June. The study identified stadiums in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that could be used but said Qatar would have to approve which nations it would partner with.
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE severed economic, diplomatic and travel ties with Qatar in 2017, which prevents flights between the countries. The study says Fifa accepts that the ongoing political spat prevents their involvement in the tournament. The AP reported last week that Fifa was looking at Kuwait and Oman as options for games in 2022, given their neutrality in the Gulf diplomatic crisis. “As it currently stands, the nature of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s relations with Qatar is such that it would be challenging to organize a cohosted tournament between Qatar and one or more of these countries,” the feasibility study states. “Candidate cohosts would need to be regarded as sufficiently cooperative,” the study adds. “Such cohosts would not sanction or boycott economically or otherwise any other potential cohost country, including the main host, Qatar.”
With logistics already challenged by the existing plan to play 64 games in eight stadiums spread over a 30-mile radius in Qatar, Fifa said two to four additional venues are required in the region “with one or more” nation. Fifa stipulates that any additional hosts would have to supply government assurances, including on its human-rights requirements. “The involvement of additional neighboring host countries would require certain conditions to be met, in particular the consent of the relevant authorities in the main host country, Qatar,” the Fifa report states. “Therefore, Fifa cannot conclusively stipulate which host countries would be part of a cohosting arrangement with Fifa and Qatar at this moment.”
The study highlights that venues with at least 40,000 seats— for games up to the quarterfinals—were demanded of 2026 World Cup bidders but doesn’t come to a conclusion on minimum capacities for 2022. While eight potential additional stadiums are identified in the region in the Fifa study, only two in the UAE, one in Saudi Arabia and one in Kuwait meet the 2026 requirements.
ORGANIZERS MARKED THE MILESTONE ON TUESDAY, UNVEILING THE STYLIZED PICTOGRAM FIGURES FOR NEXT YEAR’S TOKYO OLYMPICS. THE PICTOGRAM SYSTEM WAS FIRST USED EXTENSIVELY IN 1964 WHEN THE JAPANESE CAPITAL LAST HOSTED THE SUMMER OLYMPICS JUST 19 YEARS AFTER THE END OF WORLD WAR II.