When talking about the Olympics, buzz and togetherness escalate as everybody is excited to see their country participate, as well as watching the high level of sportsmanship and performances from the athletes from years of preparation and hard work. The long-awaited Tokyo Olympics 2020 will begin on 23rd July 2021, postponed for a year, due to the severity of the high covid 19 cases. Some people are excited to cheer for their country, yet some are concerned how the Olympics will progress amid a pandemic.
COVID-19 IMPACT
The continual rise of covid cases in Tokyo, closer to the opening date is a genuine concern. Experts have said that the cases need to fall below 100 cases per day, to ensure Olympics progress safely.
To manage the situation, Tokyo Olympics will have specific risk mitigation measures put in place, such as limits on restaurants and bars and no sight seeing for the athletes. By the commencement of the Olympics, 22% of Japan’s population will be fully vaccinated, which is far later than most of the developed nations. As of 20th July, the Olympic village has had its fourth covid case, which is a rise of concern if these cases are somehow contracted to other unsuspecting athletes. All the athletes would be fully vaccinated, and experts say that the Olympic village may be the safest part in Tokyo.
All of this insinuated the organisers to make a crucial decision - not to allow spectators in the Tokyo Olympics.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND COST OF DELAY
When Tokyo won the bid for the Olympics in 2013 the cost estimate was $7.3 billion. However, experts now estimate the cost of the Tokyo Olympics to run to about $26 billion. Japan made 43 different venues and the national stadium is to be the site of both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as it holds football and field events. It became a financial calamity before they even started building, as Japan hired the star architect Zara Hadid for the
design, however the cost estimates rapidly ran over budget. When the price hit $2 billion the entire plan was scrapped. Then Japanese architect Kengo Kuma designed a stadium with 68,000 seats made with a mixture of steel and wood from Japan's 47 prefectures. The design of the gymnastic centre mostly stayed the same, however the cost more than doubled by the time the stadium was completed in 2019. All of this coupled with Yen’s depreciation, meant that the import costs were significantly higher as a lot of the construction materials were imported from foreign countries. This gave an increase in the additional cost in the construction sectors.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has the interest of getting the best show and were not actually too concerned about the costs as the Olympics draws millions of viewers from around the world. About three quarters of IOC’s revenue comes from selling rights to broadcasters.
The postponements of the Tokyo Olympics raised the operational costs with an additional $1.6 billion. A number of stadiums and the housing for sports players were just left empty for a year, which could have given financial returns to Japanese government if the Tokyo Olympics happened at their original timing. The opening and closing ceremonies attract the most audiences, performers, laser light shows, fireworks and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron combined have an expected cost of $188 million. However Tokyo will be at a loss with the ticket sales which were expected to ramp up more than $850 million. Furthermore $900 million in added covid 19 precautions will bring the total cost of the delay to $2.8 billion. The organisers are going to prepare 300 doctors and 400 nurses every day. Now, the Tokyo Olympics Organising Committee says that their budget is $15.4 billion, which is twice the original estimate.
Covid 19 pandemic postponement actually caused serious financial damage to the host country, however they are hopeful that they would equalise and the venues and Olympic village would have a long term benefit.
FUTURE’S PERSPECTIVE
I strongly believe that the Tokyo Olympics are worth all the challenges & efforts it has faced and only a strong nation like Japan, could have done that in a pandemic. The sporting infrastructure & facilities created will serve its purpose many generations after the Olympic games and the world will see great athletes in future from Japan.
The biggest differentiator between Tokyo Olympics and any other Olympics in history is, this year there will not be a crowd to boost up the adrenaline for the athletes and have the countrymen sing the anthem whilst someone wins a go
ld. This will be a major setback which all the athletes will face. A different element of mental strength of athletes will be seen clearly in this Olympics. Flags going up, tears coming down and no one in the Olympic arena to cheer with athletes and share their joy of victory.