Tokyo, Japan – It was another busy day for Sir Craig Reedie and his International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission (EC) team as they continued their inspection of Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
Several themes of the bid book were covered in morning presentations including political and public support, legal aspects, finance and marketing. All meetings have been held behind closed doors.
Later in the afternoon the team traveled to some of the proposed venues. They reviewed the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Yoyogo National Stadium, Nippon Budokan, the Imperial Palace and the Tokyo International Forum. They were also invited into the Olympic Stadium used for the 1964 Tokyo Games, a venue scheduled for demolition before 2016. In its place, a new futuristically designed stadium will be built for the 2019 Rugby World Cup – and will be used as the 2020 Olympic Stadium should Japan’s bid win in September.
Public support has been a hot topic for Tokyo’s bid, both domestically and internationally. Until last week, public support polls have had lacklustre results. But today the IOC released new numbers that show 70% in Tokyo Prefecture support the bid (up 23% from last IOC poll) and 67% Tokyo-wide. On Sunday a Tokyo newspaper reported that support had risen to 83%, an impressive number as bids go.
“We are seeing less no’s and the positive results of communications activities,” Tsunekazu Takeda, President of Tokyo 2020 said of the new poll results.
“The government has changed; when we started the bidding campaign all the parties across the board were not expressing their support, now over 90% of the members gave their backup.
“The Japanese athletes did very well in last year’s Olympics, and people applauded that, and people want to see that again.”
Enthusiasm and support for the athletes is definitely apparent here in Tokyo this week. On Tuesday afternoon following a presentation to the EC members at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium – the proposed table tennis venue – about 100 members of the Japanese media bombarded two athletes with cameras and microphones. London 2012 table tennis silver medalist Ai Fukuhara and Singapore 2010 Youth Olympics gold medalist Koki Niwa fielded question-after-question until bid representatives had to break the group up.
An hour later, a similar scrum occurred at the proposed weightlifting venue at the Tokyo International Forum. Hiromi Miyake, weightlifting silver medalist at the London 2012 Games, was squinting as camera flashes continuously burst at her.
In contrast, during a press conference earlier in the day with Fujio Cho, the Chairman of Toyota which is the largest automaker in the world – there were only a handful of cameras. He hasn’t won any Olympic medals.
International perceptions have been dominated by the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami that hit areas in Japan with devastating force. Concerns over safety with respect to future earthquakes and radiation from damaged nuclear plants are common.
“We are receiving extensive support from all over the world,” said Seiko Hashimoto, Seven-time Olympian and Tokyo 2020 board member.
But critics question whether Japan should prioritize recovery efforts ahead of the Olympics.
“We need a balance,” she said.
She believes that children need “psychological reconstruction” and the Games can help with that. Already, London 2012 has made a difference with Japan’s record medal tally.
Children need “the dream and inspiration that can be brought by sport.”
From within the IOC, bids derive support with assistance from their national members of the committee. Two Japanese members have retired since the 2016 bid.
“I am the only IOC member currently [from Japan],” Takeda said.
“Will this impact the bid? I don’t think so.
“Turkey has one IOC member, so it’s one versus one,” he added, referencing the nation of bid opponent Istanbul.
If only it were that simple. Takeda neglected to mention that Spain, where the other bid opponent Madrid is situated, has three IOC members.
Lobbying, especially from within the IOC, is the most important bidding tool.
The IOC inspection continues Tuesday in Tokyo.
