Tokyo 2020 games will be unlike any other before
When the coronavirus pandemic forced Tokyo last year to delay the Summer Olympics and Paralympics to July 2021, organizers kept the Tokyo 2020 name, saying they wanted the event to be seen as a “light at the end of the tunnel.” Covid-19 is still spreading but the games appear to be going ahead, in what would be the biggest world event of the pandemic era. But they are almost certain to look like no other Olympics, with a bar on spectators from abroad and uncertainty as to whether even fans in Japan will be allowed in. This means a financial hit for Japan, which has spent billions of dollars to host the games, but the cost could be far higher if the virus causes the first Olympics cancellation since World War II.
1. When are the games supposed to take place?
From July 23 to Aug. 8. The Paralympics would begin Aug. 24. It would be the first staging of a modern Olympics in an odd-numbered year. This of course depends on the pandemic being contained to such an extent that the games can go forward. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said he’s determined to hold the games. Organizers have said the 2020 Olympics will be canceled -- not delayed again -- if they can’t go ahead as scheduled.
2. When will we know for sure?
Last year the plug was pulled in late March, when many countries were grappling with their first infection wave. This year, all indications have been for the games to go on as planned, even after Tokyo and other cities entered a third state of emergency in late April after a surge in Covid cases. Given the immense logistics of bringing athletes and officials to Japan, the sooner there’s certainty, the better.
3. Who decides?
As Suga has noted, the International Olympic Committee has the final say. Clause 66 of the host city contract cites various grounds for termination, including “if the IOC has reasonable grounds to believe, in its sole discretion, that the safety
of participants in the games would be seriously threatened or jeopardized for any reason whatsoever.”
4. Who will see the events in
person?
Unclear. Organizers and officials said on March 20 that spectators from overseas wouldn’t be allowed so as to limit crowd size -- an unprecedented move in the modern Olympics movement that dates back to the late 19th century. (Some 600,000 foreign visitors were expected to attend last year before the postponement.) On May 24, the U.S. State Department warned Americans against traveling to Japan over coronavirus concerns. Tickets purchased abroad will be refunded. Limits on domestic fans will be decided in June. The Olympics may draw on lessons from Japanese professional sports that have resumed play during the pandemic. From sumo to Nippon Professional Baseball, crowd sizes have been
diminished, spectators are required to wear masks and fans requested to keep their cheering in check to prevent spreading the virus. Applause is allowed.
5. What else has been decided?
Venues have been secured and sponsors have mostly renewed their contracts. Vaccination isn’t a requirement for participants; they will be limited in movement but won’t be quarantined. There remains a question of whether the Beijing Winter Olympics, which start six months after the Tokyo Olympics, will be forced to drastically alter its plans.
6. Could the Tokyo Olympics
still be canceled?
Yes, but the likelihood seems to be dropping. Some factors that could lead to a cancellation would be new, virulent strains emerging even as countries implement vaccination programs. Japan has had some of the lowest infection numbers among developed countries,
but it also has the lowest vaccination rate among the 37 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. An explosive surge of cases could put the games in jeopardy. Nearly 60% of Japanese in a Yomiuri newspaper poll in May said the Olympics should be canceled.
7. What has postponement cost?
The bill is at least $2.8 billion (300 billion yen), with the central government, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and organizing committee splitting the costs. The host city contract between Tokyo and the IOC doesn’t address postponement. The loss of overseas spectators was expected to deal a fresh blow to a tourism industry counting on revenue from Olympic visitors to recoup losses from the pandemic. About 7.8 million tickets were made available for the Olympics before the delay, and organizers still haven’t decided how many will be made available for the games.
8. Where does this leave sponsors?
Having to recalibrate their marketing plans. All sponsors retain their rights despite the postponement, including those with agreements expiring in 2020. The IOC’s top-tier global sponsors -- an exclusive list of 14 companies including Coca-Cola and Visa -- pay well over $1 billion every four years to be associated with the games. Those agreements tend to span multiple Olympics, whereas local sponsors are in it just for this event. Tokyo organizers leaned on national pride to score an unprecedented level of support from 68 domestic sponsors such as Asahi beer and Asics sneakers -- raising more than $3.3 billion, triple the previous record for an Olympics.
9. Has an Olympics ever been
called off?
Five Olympic Games were scrapped, all because of world wars: The summer games were canceled in 1916, 1940 and 1944 as were the winter games in 1940 and 1944. The 1940 games, which were to have been hosted by Tokyo, were initially postponed, but then canceled. The only time an Olympics got switched was when the 1976 winter games were moved to Innsbruck, Austria, from Denver after people in Colorado protested spiraling costs.
10. Why not call it Tokyo 2021?
In announcing the postponement, organizers said they wanted the games to stand as a beacon of hope and the Olympic flame as the “light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.” It was agreed that the Olympic flame would stay in Japan and the event would keep the name Tokyo 2020.
11. Has anything else gone
wrong?
The Tokyo Olympics organizing committee has been racked by sexism scandals. Creative director Hiroshi Sasaki resigned in March after suggesting that a plus-size female comedian appear in a swine outfit at the opening ceremony as a character called “Olympig.”