On July 23, Tokyo, Japan, the New National Arena still stood silently.

  If there were no new crown pneumonia epidemics sweeping the world, this place would have been bustling with passion, strength and hormones, and it would become the yearning of countless athletes.

Exterior view of the Japan National Stadium.

  When night falls one day later, the New National Arena will announce the arrival of the four-year sports event on this planet with a grand opening ceremony.

  But now, this magnificent building with a 96-year history can only wait for the sunrise in the long dark night, just like the 365 days and nights since then, the world sports world can only wait and breed new hope in the changing situation.

unprecedented

Olympic preparations are back on track

  On March 24, when people around the world were still in shock under the envelope of the new crown virus and forced by the rapid spread of the epidemic, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee made unprecedented difficult decisions.

  The Tokyo Olympics, originally to be held in 2020, have been postponed for one year, and the Olympic movement has ushered in a change unseen in a century.

Olympic elements can be seen everywhere in Tokyo, Japan.

  From the International Olympic Committee, individual international sports organizations, and even everyone who is closely related to the Olympic movement, they quickly took action in this upheaval, or went hand in hand, or rushed to appeal, or prayed silently...

  After the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, the new outline is becoming more and more clearly presented to the world.

  After experiencing treacherous arguing with each other, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee and the International Olympic Committee finally reached an agreement on the postponement cost. The latter injected up to 650 million US dollars into the Tokyo Olympics and made the postponement of the Olympic Games from the second time. The edge of the crisis is back on track.

  At the same time, preparatory work for a postponement of the Olympic Games was also laid out from scratch.

  Simplify more than 200 processes and reach a consensus on cost savings. In this unexpected whirlpool, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee are accelerating the resolution of secondary problems caused by the postponement of the Olympics.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics Ariake Stadium was completed and opened.

  Ensuring that the original venues can continue to be used during the postponed game time has become one of the key tasks of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee.

  At the beginning of July, all venues for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were finalized, which marked a substantial step in preparations for the Olympics after the Olympics were postponed for more than three months.

  What followed was the settlement of a series of accompanying issues such as the Tokyo Olympic schedule, athlete qualifications, and qualifying competitions.

  The thorny issues facing the world sports have been solved one by one, and the Tokyo Olympics are increasingly moving towards the goal of becoming a "mark of victory in the fight against the epidemic."

Opinions vary

Cancellation of doubt is still over

  The preparations for the Tokyo Olympics are back on track, undoubtedly regaining great confidence in the world sports arena.

  Toshiro Muto, CEO of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, also emphasized that he has sufficient confidence to host a safe Olympic Games. "After the Olympic Games were postponed, it took us only 4 months to finalize the entire schedule. The International Olympic Committee expressed its great appreciation. ."

The countdown electronic clock for the Olympic Games in front of Tokyo Station in Japan.

  However, with the epidemic still raging around the world, whether the Tokyo Olympics can be held as scheduled is no longer in the hands of the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee.

  After the storm, the rainbow does not appear immediately, and the cloud of cancellation or postponement still hangs over Tokyo.

  On July 19, local time, a public opinion survey published by Kyodo News Agency of Japan showed that only 23.9% of the people interviewed supported the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 as planned. But a month ago, 46.3% of the respondents agreed that the Olympic Games will be held as scheduled.

  Behind the loss of data is the loss of confidence caused by pressure from all parties. Among them are the epidemic, the economy, and the support.

Japan's polls on supporting the Olympics are cut (data map)

  The pessimistic predictions from Japanese medical experts forced the organizers to explain it many times. International Olympic Committee President Bach's remarks that "if it still fails to be held, it will be canceled" has caused even more shock.

  The postponement to 2021 has caused the organizers to bear an additional cost of 300 billion yen. Such as regeneration changes, I am afraid that no one can bear the consequences.

  Recently, Yoshiro Mori, the chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, revealed that the cancellation of the Olympics will cause huge losses, and the resulting waste will be two to three times that of hosting the Olympics.

  Although Bach reiterated: "We are here to organize the game, not to cancel the game," I am afraid that it is unable to change the embarrassing situation of the Tokyo Olympics once again in a dilemma.

  Before next spring arrives, the cone of fate concerning this Olympics is still up in the air.

Olympic rings logo outside the National Arena

Lessons learned

Changes give birth to new directions

  The sudden epidemic brought great shocks to the Olympic movement. However, after the initial panic, the active collaboration of the International Olympic Committee, the National (regional) Olympic Committees, and individual international organizations has also contributed to the Olympic Games in the post-epidemic era. Continuous development provides new ideas.

  The 2020 Tokyo Olympics was forced to be postponed, and the economic losses caused by this move also raised doubts about the excessive spending of the Olympics.

  In fact, for decades, such criticisms have not been rare, and countries and regions have increasingly worried about bidding for such a large-scale international sports event.

  To some extent, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics has also accelerated the reform of the IOC’s top-down work to reduce the cost of running games.

  Among them, reducing the bid budget is one of the three major recommendations put forward by the International Olympic Committee in the Olympic 2020 agenda.

The beds, tables, wardrobes and other furniture used in the Tokyo Olympic Village and Paralympic Village were unveiled. The legs of the bed were made of cardboard.

  In this regard, Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, once mentioned: “We will make the Olympics more economically viable and approachable. The budget cuts for the 2026 Winter Olympics and the substantial increase in interest in bidding for the future Winter Olympics have proven. To this point."

  At the 136th plenary meeting of the International Olympic Committee held on July 17, the Organizing Committee for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris reported to all the members of the International Olympic Committee the new progress of the preparatory work. Compared with before, both the competition procedures and the scale of venue construction have been simplified to varying degrees.

  In order to cope with the impact of the epidemic, the Paris Olympics plans to further reduce the proportion of temporary venues and make more use of existing venues, of which the proportion of newly-built venues is only 5%.

  The number of athletes dropped to 10,500, which also reduced the total construction capacity of the Olympic Village from 17,000 beds in the previous Olympic Games to 14,250 beds.

The countdown device for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics unveiled in the Shougang office area of ​​the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee

Methodical

Preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics

  However, the closing of the Tokyo Olympics is only about six months away from the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the new situation triggered by the cycle compression also brings new challenges to the Beijing Winter Olympics.

  In this regard, the International Olympic Committee hopes that all parties can continue to work closely together to take advantage of this opportunity to achieve a perfect connection between the two Olympic Games.

  The International Olympic Committee calls it "from peak to peak".

  Christopher Dolby, director of the Olympics Department, also said that the Tokyo Olympics and the Beijing Winter Olympics, as two Olympics that are very close in time, can benefit from each other's attention, and the Olympic movement as a whole will also benefit.

The National Snowmobile Center under construction. Photo courtesy of Beijing Major Office

  When the domestic epidemic prevention and control achieved important phased results, the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics also came with good news-all new venues in the Beijing competition area of ​​the Beijing Winter Olympics will be completed in 2020, and the Beijing competition area and the Yanqing competition area will be fully available by the end of 2020 The conditions of the competition.

  The International Olympic Committee has repeatedly praised the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics during the epidemic in the past six months.

  Juan Ann Samaranch, Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, once said: "This demonstrates their determination to provide the world's top winter athletes with a perfect stage when there are less than two years left (before the opening of the Winter Olympics). ."

  "The arrival of the Tokyo Olympics will push the Olympic atmosphere to a climax. And a few months after this exciting moment, we will usher in the Beijing Winter Olympics. So we are convinced that this will help create the Beijing Winter Olympics. Atmosphere." Dolby said.

  Today, the countdown to the Tokyo Olympics has once again entered the countdown, which also makes the outside world look forward to the arrival of the Beijing Winter Olympics. (Author Wang Yu)