The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games they had a final cost 20% higher than the official value announced in the latest version of the organizing committee’s budget, according to a report released today by the Japan Council of Auditors.
Tokyo 2020 represents a cost of 1.7 trillion yen (12,146 million euros), according to the estimate of this body of a state and independent of the Government and Parliament of Japan, an amount that contrasts with the 1.42 trillion yen (10,145 million euros) announced by organization of the Games in the capital of Japan.
The lag of approximately 280,000 million yen (2,000 million euros) this is due to costs directly related to the Games and assumed by the central government to be excluded from the final budget presented by the organizing committee in June.
The organizing body of the Olympic Games covered 640,000 million yen (4,572 million euros) of the total budget with contributions from sponsors and the International Olympic Committee, among other entities, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Government contributed 597,000 million yen (4,264 million euros), and the central executive, 187,000 million yen (1,336 million euros).
The Board of Auditors concluded that the central Executive did not include in the official accounts the costs obtained from the construction of training facilities for athletes, anti-doping measures and subsidies to local authorities for renovation of sports areas.
The audit also revealed that the central government spent another 1.3 trillion yen (9,292 million euros) on 329 projects that did not directly contribute to the Games and are not counted in event budgets, including border measures or improved weather forecasting.
If this figure and another 685,000 million yen (4,896 million euros) spent by the Tokyo Government on similar measures are included, the total cost of the Games will rise to approximately 3.6 trillion yen (25,736 million euros) .
The Council of Examiners highlights in its report the need for the Government to offer the necessary information to clarify the total cost for an international event of the size of the Games.
The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games were held in the summer of 2021 after being postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic, in an atmosphere of dissatisfaction among the Japanese people due to the increased costs arising from that delay and the fact of conducting a sports event in the midst of a global health crisis.
Organizers were forced to cut spending on many aspects of the Games, such as the size of invited international delegations or temporary sports facilities, to avoid cost overruns.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Jason Root, a professional writer working with Today Times Live, the premier news website. I specialize in sports writing, covering the biggest stories in the world of athletics. With an eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I provide engaging and informative articles that capture the key elements of any event or issue. My work has been featured on numerous respected websites and publications around the world.
