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Summer Olympics returning to Tokyo

MonzurulHuq
A sense of joy is now prevailing in the Japanese capital after the early morning voting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at Buenos Aires on Sunday awarded Tokyo the right to host 2020 summer Olympic Games. Many of the enthusiasts supporting the Japanese bid had gathered at designated spots that kept the doors open well until very early in the morning for invited guests to the tense moments of voting at the IOC conference through live transmission. And the euphoria was obviously running high at such an early hour as they burst into all-out celebration after the second round voting results were announced.
In fact, there were three rounds of voting, as in the first round both Istanbul and Madrid gained 26 votes each against Tokyo's 42. So, Tokyo moved straight to the final round, whereas, Istanbul and Madrid had to go through a second round to decide the runner-up, where the Turkish city prevailed. This added further tension as everybody was anxious to see where the 26 votes that Madrid gained at the first round would go. All of them going to Istanbul would definitely have eliminated Tokyo. But to the relief of many keeping an anxious eye on the voting, Tokyo could easily overcome the challenge by defeating the Turkish city with a comfortable margin of 60-36.
The Japanese capital will be the first Asian city to host the summer Olympic Games twice. Many in Japan still fondly remember the 1964 Olympic Games when the world sportive carnival came to Asia for the first time. Since then, Japan has hosted a good number of important international sporting events like the football World Cup that the country co-hosted with South Korea in 2002. Also during that period Japan twice hosted the Winter Olympics. We also should take into account anther forgotten chapter of Japan's Olympic history - the cancelled event of 1940, which was awarded to Tokyo but could not be held due to war. As a result, Japan has a long history of hosting international sporting events, and it can be said without any doubt that 2020 summer Olympic Games have been given to a
safe pair of hands.
However, Japan's way to 2020 was not an easy journey at all. Tokyo had to overcome the fears of radiation leakage at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant that was badly hit during the March 2011 disaster. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needed to touch the radiation issue in his final presentation before the IOC members ahead of voting, saying that the government would never put Tokyo in harm's way and the situation was under control. He also promised a guaranteed delivery of Tokyo 2020.
This was Tokyo's second straight bid for summer Olympic Games. The city lost its
Olympic Village, making it easy for athletes and officials to move around the venues without hassle. The plan also divides the city into two broader zones - heritage zone and Tokyo Bay zone. The centre of attraction at the heritage zone will be the new futuristic Olympic Stadium, where opening and closing ceremonies, as well as athletics, football and a few events will take place. The 80,000-seat multi-purpose stadium with a retractable roof and environmental efficiency has been designed by the Iraq born British architect Zaha Hadid. Her design was the winner of Japan Sports Council's International Concept Design Competition and the new stadium is scheduled to be
earlier bid for hosting the 2016 games and later decided to try with a renewed commitment of hosting a perfect game based on rock solid foundations. The advantages the city stressed upon in its bid application included Tokyo's fame as world's safest and most welcoming cities, as well as word-class accommodation, transport, infrastructure and hosting experiences it had gained over the years.
The bid committee that the city formed after taking the decision to apply for 2020 games had carefully planned an overall venue for what it called the most-compact games ever. 28 of a total 37 venues will be located within 8 kilometer radius of the
completed by March 2019.
The Tokyo Bay Zone area will accommodate more than 20 venues for sporting events ranging from tennis, badminton and field hockey to swimming, sailing, basketball and water polo. Most of these events will take place in existing venues, whereas the host city is planning to build 9 new temporary venues. The newly built Olympic Village will be located between the two zones and will be commissioned to real estate companies that would build the structure in such a way that the facilities can be put on sale after the game with slight remodeling. This would allow the organisers to get back the initial investment and
also allow people to buy state of the art living facilities after the Games are over.
The organisers are estimating a core expenditure of $4.4 billion for the Olympics, along with an operational budget of $3.4 billion. A significant amount of that funding would come from corporate sponsorship and investment like the construction of the Olympic Village. The Tokyo metropolitan government has already made a cash deposit of $4.5 billion for the 2020 games. In addition, the government of Japan has given financial guarantee for the games, which means that any shortfall in core expenditure for the preparation of the games will be supplemented from public funding.
Despite such enthusiastic moves by the organisers and also by the Tokyo metropolitan government, public opinion in Tokyo had not always been very enthusiastic about hosting the Olympics. One reason is definitely linked to Japan's economic slowdown. Japanese economy has been facing difficulties for more than two decades and sceptics feel that the diversion of attention to Olympic preparation might hurt the economy further. They are also worried that people might be eventually burdened with extra taxes for covering the expenses needed for construction of Olympic facilities, an accusation that the bid committee rejects.
To win over support of the majority of 35 million residents of greater Tokyo, the bid committee is emphasising on economic impact that the Games will bring, which the committee roughly estimates as 2.9 trillion yen. According to the latest survey conducted by the bid committee, almost 70% public support has been gained in favour of hosting the Olympic Games. However, there still remains significant opposition that is yet to be convinced about how Japan would benefit from the gargantuan expenditure needed for hosting the Olympic Games. And they also look at the issue from political angle, as the leaflet distributed through Internet immediately after the OIC voting gives a clear indication.
The writer lives in Tokyo, Japan.