Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were postponed for the first time in the history of the Olympics. But Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga reports that his government has exerted all efforts and spent over $33 billion to ensure that the Games will open on 23rd July 2021. The Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead this year “with or without Covid”, says the vice president of the International Olympic Committee.
The Tokyo 2020 organisers have said in a statement that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga expressed his determination to hold the Games, and that meetings were ongoing to ensure that they could go ahead while implementing thorough infection countermeasures and other precautions due to the pandemic.
“All our delivery partners, including the national government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the IOC and the IPC, are fully focused on hosting the Games this summer,” the statement said. “We hope that daily life can return to normal as soon as possible, and we will continue to exert every effort to prepare for a safe and secure Games,” said Prime Minister Suga, continuing: “will be a symbol of humanity overcoming the novel coronavirus, and a chance to showcase to the world Japan’s reconstruction following the devastating (2011) earthquake and tsunami.”
Most of the Tokyo Summer Olympic events will be held in Tokyo itself. The venues are divided into two zones: Heritage Zone and Tokyo Bay Zone. Heritage Zone venues are in central Tokyo, within the Yamanote Loop Line, while most Tokyo Bay Zone Venues are on Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay. Outside of Tokyo, football matches will also be played in Saitama, Yokohama, Kashima, Rifu and Sapporo; baseball/softball will be played entirely in Yokohama and Fukushima; basketball in Saitama; golf in Kawagoe; and the athletics marathons and walking races will be held in Sapporo, in order to avoid high summer temperatures in the capital.
Surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, karate and baseball were the five sports chosen from a short list of 26 to enter the Tokyo 2020 Olympic programme and thus join classic sports, such as athletics, fencing, cycling, gymnastics and swimming
Elsewhere, Tsurigasaki Beach in the Chiba Prefecture will host surfing’s Olympic debut; sailing will be seen off the island of Enoshima to the south of Tokyo; track and mountain-bike cycling will be held in Izu City; while bicycle road races and individual time trials will be based around the Fuji International Speedway motor racing track.
Surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, karate and baseball were the five sports chosen from a short list of 26 to enter the Tokyo 2020 Olympic programme and thus join classic sports, such as athletics, fencing, cycling, gymnastics and swimming. In other words, 21 sports were left out and are dreaming of joining the next Olympic events. In addition to these five new sports, Tokyo 2021 will also have 15 new disciplines.
The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics have taken all measures to ensure athletes, judges, volunteers and spectators feel comfortable and safe in Japan. More than 11,000 athletes from around 200 countries are scheduled to take part in the Games
The aim is to increase women’s participation and promote equality, including the 1500m women’s and 4x100m mixed event in swimming, a mixed team event in archery, the 4×400m mixed relay in athletics, 3×3 women’s and men’s basketball etc.
The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics have taken all measures to ensure athletes, judges, volunteers and spectators feel comfortable and safe in Japan. More than 11,000 athletes from around 200 countries are scheduled to take part in the Games, which are now due to begin in July 2021.
However, measures in place that limit the time they can spend in the Olympic Village — a countermeasure to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection — mean that they won’t all be able to attend the opening and closing ceremonies. Fewer athletes than originally planned will attend the Games’ opening and closing ceremonies, while athletes also cannot check in at the Olympic Village — which can accommodate 18,000 people — more than five days before their event and must leave two days after finishing their competition.
