In the same week that Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizers announced that 80% of the venues required to host the event have been secured for next summer, a gubernatorial candidate is threatening to cancel the whole production.
A total of 43 venues — eight new permanent venues, 25 existing facilities and 10 temporary venues — will be used at the Tokyo 2020 Games now set to begin on July 23, 2021. One of the new venues is the Olympic Aquatic Centre, which saw its construction completed in March of this year.
“We are hoping to use the same venues for the same sports next year,” said Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto, according to Reuters.
“Adjustments still remain, but we are able to use 80 percent of the facilities that were originally supposed to be used last year, they can be used again.”
Tokyo’s National Stadium is reportedly among those successfully secure, but the athletes’ village and Tokyo Big Sight, a convention and exhibition centre that will house the Games media and press operations, are yet to be secured.
The athletes’ village is hung up due to the fact that the site was due to be transitioned to private developers and converted into luxury apartments following the Games.
Against this backdrop, however, is the fact that Tokyo’s governor election is taking place next month, with incumbent Yuriko Koike facing a candidate intent on canceling the Games.
Taro Yamamoto, a former actor, told a news conference Monday that the money and labor being devoted to the global sports spectacle could be better spent elsewhere. (Bloomberg)
On Yamamoto’s candidacy website, #1 on his policy agenda is the Olympics’ cancellation.
“Given the coronavirus infections around the world, it will not be possible to hold an Olympics next year. If you cling to the Olympics, you will not be able to properly judge the second and third waves, and it will cost extra. Declared to the IOC that the Olympic Games will be canceled as the host city.” (Google Translate)