TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics will open next year in the same time slot scheduled for this year’s games.
On Monday, Tokyo organizers announced that the opening ceremony is scheduled for July 23, 2021 – nearly precisely a year after the games were initially set to commence this year.
“Preparing for the games is heavily dependent on the schedule,” said Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo organizing committee. “This will only hasten our progress.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Olympics were postponed until 2021 by the IOC and Japanese organizers last week.
The games this year were initially set to commence on July 24 and conclude on Aug. 9. However, due to a nearly one-year delay, the rescheduled closing ceremony will now take place on Aug. 8.
Talks had been held about shifting the Olympics to spring, aligning it with the blossoming of Japan’s renowned cherry blossoms. However, this would also conflict with European soccer and North American sports leagues.
Mori mentioned that a spring Olympics was contemplated. However, postponing the games provides additional time to finish the numerous qualifying events that have been delayed due to the virus outbreak.
“Mori said that they desired to have additional space for the athletes to qualify.”
Under the pressure from athletes, national Olympic bodies, and sports federations, local organizers and the IOC finally decided to postpone the Tokyo Games after weeks of hesitation. This marks the first postponement in Olympic history, although there have been numerous cancellations during times of war.
The Paralympics have been rescheduled to run from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.
The scheduled world championships in track and swimming were expected to clash with the new Olympic dates, but it is now anticipated that these events will also be postponed.
“Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the organizing committee, stated that the IOC has been in intimate discussions with the pertinent international federations. He expressed his belief that the international federations have accepted the games taking place in the summer,”
Muto announced that a decision was reached on Monday, which was backed by all international sports federations. The IOC clarified that the decision was guided by three key factors including the protection of athletes’ health, safeguarding athletes’ interests and Olympic sports, and aligning with the international sports schedule.
“The IOC stated that the new dates provide health authorities and everyone involved in the Games organization as much time as possible to manage the ongoing changes and disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. They added that these new dates also have the advantage of minimizing any disruption caused to the international sports calendar by the postponement, which is beneficial for the athletes and the International Federations.”
Mori and Muto have both declared that the expense of rescheduling the Olympics will be “massive”, with local reports estimating it in billions of dollars, and the majority of these costs will fall on Japanese taxpayers.
Muto pledged to be transparent in calculating the costs and determining the distribution of testing times.
“The Olympics were planned for this summer, leading all venues to forego hosting other events during this period. How do we navigate this?” inquired Muto. “Furthermore, we will require assurances when rescheduling, which may potentially result in rental fees. This means we will face expenses that we need to evaluate individually. I believe this will be the more challenging part of the process.”
Emeritus Professor of Sports Economics at Kansai University, Katsuhiro Miyamoto, estimates the costs could reach as high as $4 billion. This figure would encompass the maintenance and refitting of stadiums, rental payments, penalties, and other related expenses.
The official expenditure for organizing the Olympics by Japan is $12.6 billion. Contrarily, the Japanese government’s audit bureau states that the costs are double the official amount. The entirety of the spending, barring $5.6 billion sourced from a privately funded operating budget, is public money.
According to documents from the organizing committee, the International Olympic Committee, based in Switzerland, is donating $1.3 billion. This contribution from the IOC is allocated to the operating budget.
Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has frequently hailed the Tokyo Olympics as the most well-prepared in history. On the other hand, Taro Aso, the Deputy Prime Minister, has referred to them as “cursed.” Aso, born in 1940, participated in the 1976 Olympics as a shooter.
The 1940 Tokyo Olympics were canceled due to Japan’s war with China.
Tsunekazu Takeda, an IOC member who also led the Japanese Olympic Committee, was compelled to resign last year due to a bribery scandal in the lead-up to the Olympics.
