Closed venues and pending invoices one year after the Tokyo Games

One year after the Tokyo Olympicsthe event continues to generate debate in Japan because of expenses caused by the pandemic and in venues that were built especially for the occasion and have hardly been used since.

The Olympic event in Tokyo was delayed from the summer of 2020 to 2021 due to the global health crisis, and was finally held despite persistent rumors about its cancellation and unprecedented anti-contagion measures with severe restrictions for athletes and absence of public standing.

On the anniversary of the event that started on July 23, 2021 anyway many Japanese wonder if it is worth it holding the Games left a multimillion-dollar bill for the public treasury and sports infrastructure, which is currently underutilized.

The Tokyo Games had a final cost of 1.42 billion yen (10,120 million euros), according to the latest version of the budget presented last June. It assumes the twice the estimated initial cost for the event of around 7,000 million dollars (6,872 million euros) in 2013. The final figure includes the huge extra costs incurred from postponing the Games from their originally scheduled date, as well as health measures against contagion .

More than half of the final budget for the Games was provided by Tokyo Regional Government and Central State, or what is the same, the taxpayers, in a country that carries the largest public debt among developed economies. In addition, the expected leverage effect of the Games on the world’s third largest economy has been reduced by ban on foreign visitors and the decision to hold the competitions behind closed doors, in venues built especially for the occasion.

In all new permanent venues built for Olympic events, only the new Tokyo Olympic Stadiumwhich passed into the hands of a private consortium, is regularly used to host various sporting events.

The coliseum showed some lonely empty stands during the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies or athletics competitions, but after the Games it had filled to maximum capacity (65,000 spectators) for other sporting events, including Japanese soccer team games.

The so-called National Stadium will host the World Championships in Athletics 2025following a recent decision by World Athletics that was interpreted as a way to recognize Tokyo’s efforts and sacrifices to save the Games from the pandemic.

But most other major areas did not suffer the same fate. Two of the most expensive facilities, the Tokyo Aquatic Center and the Ariake Arena, remain closed a year later.

In the case of Water center, a massive building with two Olympic swimming pools and another for diving, is expected to open to the public in April 2023, once renovations are completed, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government told Efe. This center will be run by a private operator and is expected to host competitions as well as be used by local novice swimmers, although in attracting citizens it will compete with another world-class swimming complex, the Tatsumi, located just 300 meters away.

The Sand of Ariake, for its part, will also be managed by a private company and will be used as a concert hall and other shows from the end of next August, while the canoeing and rowing water circuit is gradually being reopened. Like the Aquatic Center, they have the disadvantage of being located in a secluded area of ​​Tokyo Bay.

Uncomfortable precedent for Sapporo 2030

The popular rejection faced by Tokyo 2020 before being held and the bitter aftertaste it left on economic terms is set to set an uncomfortable precedent for the candidacy shown by Japan to host Winter Games in 2030in the northern city of Sapporo.

A popular consultation held with some 17,500 people in March by local authorities showed majority but not overwhelming support for the project. The city council, fearing growing criticism due to the cost and inconveniences arising from the event, ruled out submitting the candidacy to a referendum.

Sapporo thus continues its plan to become the second Japanese site for the Winter Games after Nagano 1998, and where it competes with two other candidates, Salt Lake City (USA) and Vancouver (Canada).