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Tokyo 2020 or the Games of the XXXII Olympiad was the 29th Summer Olympics, following Rio de Janeiro 2016 and preceding Paris 2024. They were held in Tokyo, Japan, as the second time that the Summer Olympic Games had visited the nation after Tokyo 1964, and the fourth edition of the Olympic Games, after Sapporo 1972 and Nagano 1998. The Olympic Games in Tokyo also acted as the second leg of the "Asian Olympic Era", following Pyeongchang 2018 and preceding Beijing 2022. Due to the global coronavirus (CoViD-19) pandemic, the event was postponed to 2021, with many venues hosting empty or only domestic stands during competition, and with additional health and safety measures for all involved. It was the first time ever since the reincarnation of the Olympic Games that the event had to be postponed, after cancellations in 1916, 1940, and 1944.

The Russian delegation was suspended, though athletes were allowed to participate as ROC. North Korean athletes did not compete noting health concerns, and Guinea made the same announcement, though it was later retracted. For the second time in a row, the Refugee Olympic Team would compete at the Olympic Games.

Bidding[]

Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid were the official candidate cities. Applications from Baku and Doha were received, but not promoted to candidate status. A bid from Rome was withdrawn. The IOC voted to select the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics on 7 September 2013 at the 125th IOC Session at the Buenos Aires Hilton in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An exhaustive ballot system was used. No city won over 50% of the votes in the first round, and Madrid and Istanbul were tied for second place. A run-off vote between these two cities was held to determine which would be eliminated. In the final vote, a head-to-head contest between Tokyo and Istanbul, Tokyo was selected by 60 votes to 36.

Voting results for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games
City Country Round 1 Round 2
Tokyo Japan 42 60
Istanbul Turkey 26 49 36
Madrid Spain 26 45

Development and preparation[]

The Tokyo metropolitan government set aside a fund of 400 billion yen to cover the cost of hosting the Games. The Japanese government is considering increasing slot capacity at both Haneda Airport and Narita Airport by easing airspace restrictions. A new railway line is planned to link both airports through an expansion of Tokyo Station, cutting travel time from Tokyo Station to Haneda from 30 minutes to 18 minutes, and from Tokyo Station to Narita from 55 minutes to 36 minutes; the line would cost 400 billion yen and would be funded primarily by private investors. Funding is also planned to accelerate completion of the Central Circular Route, Tokyo Gaikan Expressway and Ken-Ō Expressway, and to refurbish other major expressways in the area.[1] There are also plans to extend the Yurikamome automated transit line from its existing terminal at Toyosu Station to a new terminal at Kachidoki Station, passing the site of the Olympic Village, although the Yurikamome would still not have adequate capacity to serve major events in the Odaiba area on its own.[2] On 20 March 2021, it was accounced that no foreign spectators would be allowed due to safety reasons concerning the coronavirus pandemic.

Broadcasting[]

On 6 January 2011, the IOC announced that it was considering packaging the U.S. television rights for four Olympics instead of the usual two: the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, and the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. The IOC's lead negotiator Richard Carrion told the Associated Press the bidding war would be waged among NBC, ESPN, Fox and perhaps a CBS/Turner coalition. "We realize this is a major decision going forward for any of these guys," the IOC member from Puerto Rico said. "I would certainly support it if they want to go to four Games, and do all the way to 2020."[3]

IOC president Jacques Rogge heads the exclusive TV Rights and New Media Commission, but the organization of bidding falls to Carrion, who meets regularly with the networks to stoke interest in airing Sochi 2014 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. In packaging four Olympics, Carrion had another two Games to sell, but the 2018 host city would not be selected until 6 July 2011, and the 2020 host until 2013. The IOC took its time to seek a new deal for the U.S., hoping to ride out a recession to get the best price possible. The U.S. television rights are the IOC's single-largest source of revenue.[3]

On 7 June 2011, the IOC awarded the U.S. television rights for the four Olympics to NBC in a deal worth more than $4 billion.[4]

The television rights for Europe is Eurosport. Template:Cite-news

Torch[]

The Olympic torch was lit on 12 March 2020 and travelled to Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. A day before the Japanese leg of the torch relay was about to start, the Olympic Games were postponed until 2021, with the torch remaining in Japan. The relay resumed on 25 March 2021 from the J-Village National Training Center in Fukushima Prefecture, crossing all 47 prefectures in 121 days by over 10,000 torchbearers, to arrive in the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on 23 July 2021.

Design[]

Tokyo 2020 Torch

The torch's design is modeled after a Japanese cherry blossom flower, as a distinctive and recognizable aspect of Japanese culture. The start of the blossom season coincides with the start of the Olympic torch relay: in March 2021. The five "petals" of which the torch is made, generate flames which shine together, brighter the individual petals. The material of which the torch is made was also used to build temporary houses after the Great East Japan Earthquake, trying to rebuild the lives of the people who had lost their homes and families that day. Using the aluminium waste from the housing project is used to spread a message of hope and recovery, and remembers the people and effort who helped in the recovery of the area. As a third point of Japanese heritage, the unique shape of the torch is made possible using the technology as used in Japanese bullet trains, renowned around the world.

Torch relay[]

The torch was lit on 12 March 2020 in Olympia, Greece, and was first carried by Greek shooter Anna Korakaki as the first woman ever to start an Olympic torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Greek leg of the relay was mostly cancelled, with only a handover ceremony without spectators on 19 March 2020 in Athens, Greece, remaining. On 20 March 2020, the flame arrived in Matsushima Air Base, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, with the Japanese leg planned to start from the J-Village in Fukushima Prefecture on the 26th of March. The J-Village is located 30 minutes away from the nuclear power plant that melted down in 2011, as the most severe and most damaging nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. However, a day before the intended start date of the torch relay, the event was postponed, with the torch being kept in the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo. A year later, the torch relay resumed with mostly the planned route and dates, starting with the Japanese women's football team which won the world championships in 2011, lead out by head coach Norio Sasaki. From then, the torch travelled through all 47 prefectures, with around 98% of the Japanese population living within an hour from the route, and visiting many of the areas that had been affected by the earthquake in 2011. After 121 days, the torch arrived in the Olympic stadium and for the first time in Tokyo, where it was transported through the stadium by three-time Olympic champions in judo Tadahiro Nomura and wrestling Saori Yoshida, baseball players Sadaharu Oh, Shigeo Nagashima, and Hideki Matsui, health workers Hiroki Ohashi and Junko Kitagawa, Paralympic champion Wakako Tsuchida, and a group of students from the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima who were affected by the 2011 East Japan earthquake, after which the Olympic cauldron was lit by the first Japanese tennis player ever to hold the top ranking, Noami Osaka.

Mascots[]

Miraitowa and Someity Excited (Tokyo 2020 Mascots)

Miraitowa and Someity, the mascots of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, were fully unveiled on 22 July 2018, making their debuts as the official mascots of Tokyo 2020. The designs were already announced almost five months earlier, on 28 February 2018, after a review of 6.5 million schoolchildren at primary schools across Japan from 11 December 2017 until 22 February 2018, and with each class casting a single vote for their favorite design out of a shortlist of three potential sets. As a final result, set A as created by designer Ryo Taniguchi received 109,041 votes of primary school classing, defeating Kana Yano's set B with 61,423 votes and 35,291 votes for set C as designed by Sanae Akimoto.

Miraitowa is a figure with blue checkered patterns, old-fashioned traditional charm and new innovation. He is also very athletic. His name derives from "Mirai" meaning future in Japanese, which is his design, and "towa" being Japanese for eternity.

Someity is a figure with pink chequered patterns and cherry blossom flowers. She is a cool character, calm but powerful when needed and she can speak to the wind. Her name comes from Someiyoshino, a type of cherry blossom, which can be referenced in her design. It can also refer to the English term, "so mighty".

Venues[]

Main article: Venues

The venues of Tokyo 2020 were mostly divided into three areas: the Tokyo Heritage Zone and the Tokyo Bay Zone were located within the Japanese capital, with the former featuring venues or stadiums that were using during Tokyo 1964, and the latter featuring newly-built stadiums or temporary venues to promote the sports in the area. Another cluster that included quite a few venues spanned from Mount Fuji to Kashima on the east coast of the country, being in Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, and Ibaraki Prefectures bordering Tokyo. Several standalone venues were used for baseball, softball, and football events, with Sapporo Odori Park also hosting the marathon and race walking events of athletics, due to the lower temperature and less humid conditions.

Sports[]

Following the 2012 Games, the IOC assessed the 26 sports held in London, with the remit of selecting 25 'core' sports to join new entrants golf and rugby sevens at the 2020 Games. In effect, this would involve the dropping of one sport from the 2016 Games program. This would leave a single vacancy in the 2020 Games program, which the IOC would seek to fill from a shortlist containing seven unrepresented sports and the removed sport. Events such as modern pentathlon, taekwondo and badminton were among those considered vulnerable.

On 12 February 2013, IOC leaders voted to drop wrestling from the Olympic program, a surprise decision that removed one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games. Wrestling, which combines freestyle and Greco-Roman events, goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896,[5] and even further to the Ancient Olympics. The decision to drop wrestling was opposed in many countries and by their NOCs.[6][7][8][9] Wrestling therefore joined seven other sports in a list of eight applying for inclusion in the 2020 Games.

On 29 May 2013, it was announced that three sports remained in contention: squash, baseball/softball and wrestling.[10] Five other sports (karate, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding, and wushu) were excluded from consideration at this point. On 8 September at the 125th IOC Session, the IOC selected wrestling to be included in the Olympic program for the 2020 and 2024. Wrestling secured 49 votes, while baseball/softball secured 24 votes and squash got 22 votes. [11]

In October 2019, the IOC announced plans to relocate the marathon event to Sapporo, Japan, in light of concerns over athletes' safety. However, this was contradicted by the Tokyo Organizing Committee, stating that agreements could be made but were not finalized.

For the first time ever, animated pictograms were produced with innovative designs to reflect the developments in technology and to emphasize the legacy of Tokyo 1964.

← Winter 2018 Japan 2020 Summer Olympic Games Japan Winter 2022 →
← 2016 2024 →
Archery Artistic Swimming Athletics
Badminton Baseball / Softball Basketball
Boxing Canoeing Cycling
Diving Equestrian Fencing
Field Hockey Football Golf
Gymnastics Handball Judo
Karate Modern Pentathlon Rowing
Rugby Sevens Sailing Shooting
Skateboarding Sport Climbing Surfing
Swimming Table Tennis Taekwondo
Tennis Triathlon Volleyball
Water Polo Weightlifting Wrestling


Medal table[]

Ninety-three nations and delegations won at least one medal, the highest number at any edition of the Olympic Games ever, with the United States topping the medal table for the sixth time in the last seven editions, only missing out on Beijing 2008, when the host country won more gold medals. The American team was only able to catch up on the Chinese on the very last day, winning 39 gold medals in total against 38 gold medals won by China. Turkmenistan won its first Olympic medal ever, with San Marino winning their first Olympic medals in the women's trap shooting, the mixed trap shooting and freestyle wrestling, and the Philippines winning its first gold medal ever, just like Bermuda won its first Olympic gold medal in the women's triathlon.

In 339 events, only two were dominated by a single nation: Jamaican women won all three medals at the 100 metres sprint and Switzerland occupied all three places on the podium on the mountain bike cross-country. However, for many events and disciplines, a National Olympic Committee could only be represented by one or two athletes. In all these events, a gold medal was also shared: Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi decided to share the gold medal in the men's high jump after both athlete reached the same height without mistake.

Japan equalled its best position on the medal standings with a third place, which was previously had at Tokyo 1964 and Mexico City 1968, and earned the most medals ever with 58 (27 gold, 14 silver, 17 bronze). The Netherlands beat their total number of medals at a single edition by eleven, having won 25 medals in Sydney 2000 but couldn't reach the same number of gold medals (10 gold, 12 silver, 14 bronze against 12 gold, 9 silver, and 4 bronze in 2000). The nation also reached the top 10 for the first time in 20 years, barely edging out France, Germany, and Italy for seventh place. Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic all had their best Summer Olympic Games ever, finishing in the top 15 of the medal standings.

The top five of the medal standings finished in the top 8 of both medal count for men's and women's events. The American men won 41 out of 113 medals, with 66 medals being won in the women's events, with a similar trend for China (35 medals in men's events, 47 in women's events), Japan (25 medals in men's events, 30 in women's events), but the opposite was valid for Great Britain (34 medals in men's events, 23 in women's events), and ROC (35 medals in men's events, 32 in women's events). For other countries, 13 out of 15 medals won by Cuba was won in men's events, 18 out of 24 Canadian medals was won in the women's events, whereis this was exactly equal for French medals with 15. Germany and Great Britain also performed well in open events with four and five medals, with China winning most mixed events.

Emma McKeon was the only athlete to win more than five Olympic medals (4 gold, 3 bronze) in 2021, becoming the second women ever to win seven medals at a single edition of an Olympic Games, after Maria Gorokhovskaya, but Caeleb Dressel was the athlete to win the most gold medals in 2021. He won five gold medals, bringing his total in two Olympic appearances to seven. Five other athletes won four Olympic medals, though all were swimmers: Kaylee McKeown (3 gold, 1 bronze) lead the charge in front of Kathleen Ledecky and Zhang Yufei (2 gold, 2 silver), Ariarne Titmus (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze), and Duncan Scott (1 gold, 3 silver). 27 athletes won three medals, with 180 athletes in total winning two or more medals. Ground-breaking performances from multi-medalists included An San, Vitalina Batsarashkina, and Mima Ito becoming the athletes in their sport to win three Olympic medals at a single edition of the Olympic Games, Sifan Hassan becoming the first track and field athlete since 1948 to medal in three individual distance events, and Alessandra Perilli winning the first two Olympic medals for San Marino.

After winning a silver medal in the baseball tournament, Eddy Alvarez became one of a select few athletes to have medalled at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games, after he won a silver medal in the men's short track relay in 2014, and plenty of other athletes competed after having participated at the Winter Olympic Games, including two-time silver medalist in snowboard Ayumu Hirano in skateboarding, seven-time Olympian Jaqueline Mourão in mountain bike, bronze medalist in speed skating Laurine van Riessen in track cycling, and three-time Olympian Pita Taufatofua in taekwondo.

American Allyson Felix became the most decorated women in Olympic Athletics, just one medal behind legend Paavo Nurmi, while Great Britain and Hungary reached medal milestones, having won their 900th and 500th Olympic medals, respectively. Nino Salukvadze competed at her ninth Olympic Games to become the first woman to reach that milestone, still one behind record-holder Ian Millar.

A few weeks after the Olympic Games ended, the British team which won silver in the 4x100 metres relay was disqualified for doping offences, with Canada and China improving one place on the event rankings. This did not affect the medal table overall.

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States 39 41 33 113
2 China 38 32 19 89
3 Japan 27 14 17 58
4 Great Britain 22 20 22 64
5 ROC 20 28 23 71
6 Australia 17 7 22 46
7 Netherlands 10 12 14 36
8 France 10 12 11 33
9 Germany 10 11 16 37
10 Italy 10 10 20 40
11 Canada 7 7 10 24
12 Brazil 7 6 8 21
13 New Zealand 7 6 7 20
14 Cuba 7 3 5 15
15 Hungary 6 7 7 20
16 South Korea 6 4 10 20
17 Poland 4 5 5 14
18 Czech Republic 4 4 3 11
19 Kenya 4 4 2 10
20 Norway 4 2 2 8
21 Jamaica 4 1 4 9
22 Spain 3 8 6 17
23 Sweden 3 6 0 9
24 Switzerland 3 4 6 13
25 Denmark 3 4 4 11
26 Croatia 3 3 2 8
27 Iran 3 2 2 7
28 Serbia 3 1 5 9
29 Belgium 3 1 3 7
30 Bulgaria 3 1 2 6
31 Slovenia 3 1 1 5
32 Uzbekistan 3 0 2 5
33 Georgia 2 5 1 8
34 Chinese Taipei 2 4 6 12
35 Turkey 2 2 9 13
36 Greece 2 1 1 4
36 Uganda 2 1 1 4
38 Ecuador 2 1 0 3
39 Ireland 2 0 2 4
39 Israel 2 0 2 4
41 Qatar 2 0 1 3
42 Bahamas 2 0 0 2
42 Kosovo 2 0 0 2
44 Ukraine 1 6 12 19
45 Belarus 1 3 3 7
46 Romania 1 3 0 4
46 Venezuela 1 3 0 4
48 India 1 2 4 7
48 Hong Kong 1 2 3 6
50 Philippines 1 2 1 4
50 Slovakia 1 2 1 4
52 South Africa 1 2 0 3
53 Austria 1 1 5 7
54 Egypt 1 1 4 6
55 Indonesia 1 1 3 5
56 Ethiopia 1 1 2 4
56 Portugal 1 1 2 4
58 Tunisia 1 1 0 2
59 Estonia 1 0 1 2
59 Fiji 1 0 1 2
59 Latvia 1 0 1 2
59 Thailand 1 0 1 2
63 Bermuda 1 0 0 1
63 Morocco 1 0 0 0
63 Puerto Rico 1 0 0 1
66 Colombia 0 4 1 5
67 Azerbaijan 0 3 4 7
68 Dominican Republic 0 3 2 5
69 Armenia 0 2 2 4
70 Kyrgyzstan 0 2 1 3
71 Mongolia 0 1 3 4
72 Argentina 0 1 2 3
72 San Marino 0 1 2 3
74 Jordan 0 1 1 2
74 Malaysia 0 1 1 2
74 Nigeria 0 1 1 2
77 Bahrain 0 1 0 1
77 Saudi Arabia 0 1 0 1
77 Lithuania 0 1 0 1
77 North Macedonia 0 1 0 1
77 Namibia 0 1 0 1
77 Turkmenistan 0 1 0 1
83 Kazakhstan 0 0 8 8
84 Mexico 0 0 4 4
85 Finland 0 0 2 2
86 Botswana 0 0 1 1
86 Burkina Faso 0 0 1 1
86 Ghana 0 0 1 1
86 Grenada 0 0 1 1
86 Ivory Coast 0 0 1 1
86 Kuwait 0 0 1 1
86 Moldova 0 0 1 1
86 Syria 0 0 1 1

Notes[]

  1. "羽田・成田発着を拡大、五輪へインフラ整備急ぐ", 10 September 2013. Retrieved on 10 September 2013.
  2. "五輪で東京に1000万人 過密都市ゆえの課題多く", 10 September 2013. Retrieved on 10 September 2013.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Bidders Want U.S. TV Rights Through 2020; Sochi Progress. Aroundtherings.com (6 January 2011). Retrieved on 5 March 2012.
  4. McCarthy, Michael. "NBC wins U.S. TV rights to four Olympic Games through 2020", USA Today, 7 June 2011.
  5. Wilson, Stephen. "IOC Drops Wrestling From 2020 Olympics", ABC. Retrieved on 2/12/2013.
  6. Supron odesłał medal IO na znak protestu - Sporty walki - www.orange.pl
  7. Staff (14 February 2013). IOC drops wrestling from 2020 Olympics. ESPN. Retrieved on 7 March 2013.
  8. Gallagher, Jack (6 March 2013). Wrestlers promote Tokyo's 2020 Olympic bid. Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved on 7 March 2013.
  9. Staff (3 March 2013). Bulgaria's wrestling coach starts hunger strike. USA Today. Retrieved on 7 March 2013.
  10. IOC: Baseball/softball, squash and wrestling make cut for IOC Session vote in Buenos Aires
  11. Wrestling added to Olympic programme for 2020 and 2024 Games. IOC (8 September 2013). Retrieved on 8 September 2013.

See also[]

  • Logos - The official logos of these Olympics.
Olympic Games
Summer Olympic Games
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