2020 Summer Olympics

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, as it got at least 49 votes needed for a majority.

2020 Summer Olympics host city election[6]
City	NOC name	Round 1	Runoff	Round 2
Tokyo	Japan	42	—	60
Istanbul	Turkey	26	49	36
Madrid	Spain	26	45	—

Concerns about the pandemic began to affect qualifying events in early 2020. Some that were due to take place in February were moved to alternative locations to address concerns about travelling to the worst-affected areas, particularly China. For example, the women's basketball qualification was played in Belgrade, Serbia, instead of Foshan, China.[11] The boxing qualification tournament was originally planned to be held in Wuhan, China, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, from 3 to 14 February, but instead took place in Amman, Jordan, at the beginning of March.[12] The third round of the women's football qualification tournament was also affected, as the group matches originally scheduled to be held in China were moved to Australia.[13] Qualifying events that were due to take place in March or April 2020 began to be postponed until later in the year, part of a wider suspension of international sporting competitions in response to the pandemic. A multitude of Olympic sports were affected, including archery, baseball, cycling, handball, judo, rowing, sailing, volleyball, and water polo.

Mandatory doping tests were being severely restricted by the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. European anti-doping organizations raised concerns that blood and urine tests could not be performed, and that mobilizing the staff necessary to do so before the end of the pandemic would be a health risk. Despite the need for extensive testing to take place in advance of the Games, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stated that public health and safety was their topmost priority.[14] The Chinese anti-doping agency temporarily ceased testing on 3 February 2020, with a planned resumption of "phased" testing towards the end of the month,[15] and the anti-doping organizations in the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany had reduced their testing activities by the end of March.[14]

On 2 March 2020, the Tokyo Organizing Committee (TOCOG) released a statement saying that preparations for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics were "continuing as planned".[16] The following day, a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed that the Games would proceed according to schedule.[17] On 18 March, the IOC repeated its opposition to a delay or cancellation.[18][19] On 23 March, three countries—Canada, Australia, and Great Britain—said they would withdraw from the Games if they were not postponed by a year.[20][21] On the same day, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that he would support a proposed postponement, citing that ensuring athlete safety was "paramount".[22] That same day, veteran IOC member and former vice president Dick Pound told USA Today that he expected the Games to be postponed.[23]

On 24 March 2020, the IOC and TOCOG announced that the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics would be "rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021". They stated that the Games "could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present."[24] Prime Minister Abe stated that IOC president Thomas Bach "responded with 100% agreement" to his proposal to delay the Games. For continuity and marketing purposes, the Games will still be branded as Tokyo 2020, despite the change in scheduling. Although several Olympics have been outright cancelled by world wars, including the 1940 Summer Olympics (which were originally awarded to Tokyo, moved to Helsinki after the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and ultimately called off amid the wider onset of World War II), this marks the first Olympics to ever be postponed to a later date instead.[25][26][27]

On 30 March 2020, the IOC and TOCOG announced that they had reached an agreement on the new dates for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, which would now open on 23 July 2021 with the Closing Ceremony to take place on 8 August.[2][28] The subsequent Winter Olympics in Beijing are due to open on 4 February 2022, less than six months later. Shortly before the postponement was confirmed, the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organizers formed a task force named "Here We Go" with the remit to address any issues arising from postponing the Games, such as sponsorship and accommodation. The organizers have confirmed that all athletes who have already qualified for Tokyo 2020 will keep their qualification slots.[29]

According to an estimate conducted by professor emeritus Katsuhiro Miyamoto of Kansai University, and reported by the NHK, the cost of delaying the 2020 Olympics by one year will be 640.8 billion yen (US$5.8 billion), taking into account maintenance expenditures for the unused facilities. Complete cancellation would have cost Japan 4.52 trillion yen (US$41.5 billion), based on operating expenses and loss of tourism activity.[30]

In February 2012, it was revealed that Tokyo's National Stadium, the central venue for the 1964 Summer Olympics, was to undergo a ¥100 billion renovation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympics.[36] In November 2012, the Japan Sport Council announced that it was taking bids for proposed stadium designs. Of the 46 finalists, Zaha Hadid Architects was awarded the project, which would replace the old stadium with a new 80,000-seat stadium. There was criticism of the Zaha Hadid design—which was compared to a bicycle helmet, and regarded as clashing with the surrounding Meiji Shrine—and widespread disapproval of the costs, even with attempts to revise and "optimise" the design.[37]

In June 2015, the government announced that as a further cost-saving measure, it was planning to reduce the new stadium's permanent capacity to 65,000 in its athletics configuration (although with the option to add up to 15,000 temporary seats for football).[38][39] The original plans to build a retractable roof were also scrapped.[40] As a result of the public's opposition to the increasing costs of the stadium, which reached ¥252 billion, the government ultimately chose to reject the Zaha Hadid design entirely, and selected a new design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Inspired by traditional temples and with a lower profile, Kuma's design has a budget of ¥149 billion. Changes in plans prevented the new stadium from being completed in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup as originally intended.[41]

In October 2018, the Board of Audit issued a report stating that the total cost of the venues could exceed US$25 billion.[42]

Of the 33 competition venues in Tokyo, 28 are within 8 kilometers (4.97 miles) of the Olympic Village. Eleven new venues are to be constructed.[43] On 16 October 2019, the IOC announced that there were plans to re-locate the marathon and racewalking events to Sapporo for heat concerns.[44] The plans were made official on 1 November 2019 after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike accepted the IOC's decision, despite her belief that the events should have remained in Tokyo.[45]

Seven venues for nine sports are located within the central business area of Tokyo, northwest of the Olympic Village. Some of these venues were originally constructed for the 1964 Summer Olympics.

There are 13 venues planned for 15 sports located in the vicinity of Tokyo Bay, southeast of the Olympic Village, predominantly on Ariake, Odaiba and the surrounding artificial islands.

Twelve venues for 16 sports are situated farther than 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the Olympic Village.

In December 2018, the Japanese government chose to ban drones from flying over venues being used for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. A ban was also imposed for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which Japan also hosted.[64]

Applications for volunteering at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were accepted from 26 September 2018. By 18 January 2019, a total of 204,680 applications had been received by the Tokyo Organizing Committee.[65] Interviews to select the requisite number of volunteers began in February 2019, with training scheduled to take place in October 2019.[66] The volunteers at the venues are to be known as "Field Cast" and the volunteers in the city are to be known as "City Cast". These names were chosen from a shortlist of four from an original 150 pairs of names; the other three shortlisted names were "Shining Blue" & "Shining Blue Tokyo", "Games Anchor" & "City Anchor", and "Games Force" & "City Force". The names were chosen by the people who had applied to be volunteers at the Games.[67]

In February 2017, the Tokyo Organizing Committee announced an electronics recycling program in partnership with Japan Environmental Sanitation Center and NTT Docomo, soliciting donations of electronics (such as mobile phones) to be reclaimed as materials for the medals. Aiming to collect 8 tonnes of metals to produce the medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, collection boxes were deployed at public locations and NTT Docomo retail shops in April 2017.[68][69] A design competition for the medals launched in December of the same year.[70]

In May 2018, the organizing committee reported that they had obtained half the required 2,700 kilograms of bronze, but that they were struggling to obtain the required amount of silver; although bronze and silver medals purely utilize their respective materials, IOC requirements mandate that gold medals utilize silver as a base.[71] The collection of bronze was completed in November 2018, with the remainder estimated to have been completed by March 2019.[72]

On 24 July 2019, the designs of the medals were unveiled.[73][74] The medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games were designed by Junichi Kawanishi following a nationwide competition.[75]

The slogan of the 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay is "Hope Lights Our Way".[76][77]

As determined by an IOC ruling in 2009 that banned international torch relays for any future Olympic Games,[78] the 2020 Summer Olympics torch is scheduled to only visit the two countries of Greece and the host nation Japan. The first phase of the relay began on 12 March 2020 with the traditional flame lighting ceremony at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece. The torch then travelled to Athens, where the Greek leg of the relay culminated in a handover ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium on 19 March, during which the torch was transferred to the Japanese contingent.[76] The flame was placed inside a special lantern and transported from Athens International Airport on a chartered flight to Higashimatsushima in Japan. The torch was then expected to begin the second phase of its journey on 20 March, as it travels for one week around the three most affected areas of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami—Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima—where it would go on display under the heading "Flame of Recovery". After leaving Naraha on 26 March, the torch would commence its main relay around Japan, incorporating all 47 prefectural capitals.[77] The relay is scheduled to end at Tokyo's New National Stadium, where the torch is to be used to light the Olympic cauldron at the finale of the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.[79]

After the decision to postpone the Games, the Olympic flame is to be displayed for a month in Fukushima before moving to Tokyo to exhibit the flame in a lantern until 2021.[80]

The opening ceremony tickets are expected to range from ¥12,000 to ¥300,000, with a maximum price of ¥130,000 for the finals of the athletics track and field events.[81] The average ticket price is ¥7,700, with half the tickets being sold for up to ¥8,000. A symbolic ticket price of ¥2,020 is expected for families, groups resident in Japan, and in conjunction with a school program.[81] Tickets will be sold through 40,000 shops in Japan and by mail order to Japanese addresses through the Internet.[82] International guests will need to visit Japan during the sales period, or arrange to buy tickets through a third party such as a travel agent.[83]

Tickets went on general sale in Japan in the autumn of 2019 and were expected to be sold globally from June 2020, but this plan was suspended when the Games were postponed on 24 March 2020. The Tokyo Organizing Committee confirmed that tickets already purchased would remain valid for the same sessions according to the new schedule, and that refunds were also being offered.[84]

The official program for the 2020 Summer Olympics was approved by the IOC executive board on 9 June 2017. The president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, stated that the goal for the Tokyo Summer Olympics was to give them a more "youthful" and "urban" appeal, and to increase the number of female participants.[85][86]

The Games will feature 339 events in 33 different sports, encompassing a total of 50 disciplines. Alongside the five new sports that are expected to be introduced in Tokyo, fifteen new events within existing sports are also planned, including 3x3 basketball, freestyle BMX and Madison cycling, as well as new mixed events in several sports.

In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

New sports

As part of a goal to control costs and ensure that the Olympics remain "relevant to sports fans of all generations", the IOC assessed the 26 sports contested at the 2012 Olympics, with the remit of dropping one sport and thus retaining 25 "core" sports to join new entrants golf and rugby sevens at the 2020 Games. This move would bring the total number of sports to 27, one less than the requirement of 28 for the 2020 Olympics program, thus leaving a single vacancy that the IOC would seek to fill from a shortlist containing seven unrepresented sports as well as the sport that had been dropped from the 2012 Olympics program.

On 12 February 2013, IOC leaders voted to drop wrestling from the "core" program for the 2020 Games; this was a surprising decision to news outlets given that wrestling is from the ancient Olympic Games and was included in the original program for the modern Games. The New York Times felt that the decision was based on the shortage of well-known talent and the absence of women's events in the sport.[87][88][89] Wrestling was duly added to the shortlist of applicants for inclusion in the 2020 Games, alongside the seven new sports that were put forward for consideration.[87]

On 29 May 2013, it was announced that three of the eight sports under consideration had made the final shortlist: baseball/softball, squash and wrestling.[90] The other five sports were rejected at this point: karate, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding, and wushu.[91] On 8 September 2013, at the 125th IOC Session, wrestling was chosen to be included in the Olympic program for 2020 and 2024. Wrestling secured 49 votes, while baseball/softball and squash received 24 votes and 22 votes respectively.[92]

Under new IOC policies that shift the Games to use an "event-based" program rather than a "sport-based" program, the host organizing committee can now also propose the addition of sports to the program. This rule is designed to allow sports that are popular in the host country to be added to the program, in order to improve local interest.[93] As a result of these changes, a list of eight sports was unveiled on 22 June 2015, consisting of: baseball/softball, bowling, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, surfing, and wushu.[94] On 28 September 2015, the organizers submitted their shortlist of five proposed sports to the IOC: baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding.[95] These five new sports were approved on 3 August 2016 by the IOC during the 129th IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and are to be included in the sports program for 2020 only, bringing the total number of sports at the 2020 Olympics to 33.[96][97]

A total of 56 test events are scheduled to take place in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Two of the events were held in late 2018, but the main test event schedule commenced in June 2019 and was originally due to be completed in May 2020, prior to the start of the Olympics. Several of the events were incorporated into pre-existing championships, but some have been newly created specifically to serve as Olympic test events for the 2020 Summer Games.[98][99]

It was announced in February 2019 that the test events would be branded under the banner "Ready, Steady, Tokyo". The Tokyo Organizing Committee is responsible for 22 of the test events, with the remaining events being arranged by national and international sports federations. The first test event was World Sailing's World Cup Series held at Enoshima in September 2018, and the last scheduled event is the Tokyo Challenge Track Meet which was originally due to take place at the Olympic Stadium in May 2020.[100]

The Olympic test event schedule was interrupted in February 2020 as international sporting events began to be affected by the spread of COVID-19. All test events originally scheduled to take place from mid-March 2020 onwards were postponed, with the test event calendar to be reviewed during the preparations for the rescheduled Games.[101]

A related cultural festival, dubbed the Nippon Festival, was initially announced in late 2019. This is expected to feature art and performances that are modern yet tied to Japanese culture, including a hybrid kabuki-opera production.[102] On 5 February 2020, the Japan Sumo Association confirmed that it would participate in the Nippon Festival, with plans to host a special two-day exhibition sumo tournament at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan shortly after the conclusion of the Olympic Games but before the start of the Paralympic Games.[lower-alpha 4][103] The length and format of the exhibition sumo tournament is expected to differ significantly from sumo's traditional 15-day tournaments, which are held six times a year. There are plans to provide simultaneous commentary in English and Japanese to help explain to visitors the customs and traditions of professional sumo, which are deeply rooted in the Shinto religion.[104][105]

Macedonia has competed under the provisional name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" in every Summer and Winter Games since its debut in 1996 because of the disputed status of its official name. The naming disputes with Greece ended in 2018 with the signing of the Prespa agreement, and the country was officially renamed North Macedonia in February 2019. The new name was immediately recognized by the IOC, although the Olympic Committee of North Macedonia (NMOC) was not officially adopted until February 2020. The NMOC sent a delegation to the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in January 2020, but the Tokyo Games will be North Macedonia's first appearance at the Summer Olympics under its new name.[106]

On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for a period of four years, after the Russian government was found to have tampered with lab data that it provided to WADA in January 2019 as a condition of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency being reinstated. As a result of the ban, WADA plans to allow individually cleared Russian athletes to take part in the 2020 Summer Olympics under a neutral banner, as instigated at the 2018 Winter Olympics, but they will not be permitted to compete in team sports. The title of the neutral banner has yet to be determined; WADA Compliance Review Committee head Jonathan Taylor stated that the IOC would not be able to use "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) as it did in 2018, emphasizing that neutral athletes cannot be portrayed as representing a specific country.[107][108][109] Russia later filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the WADA decision.[110]

As of 12 March 2020, the following 153 National Olympic Committees have qualified (other than through universality places in athletics and swimming, under which all 206 NOCs may send competitors regardless of qualification).

Per the historical precedent of swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, swimming finals are scheduled to be held in the morning to allow live primetime broadcasts in the Americas. NBC paid substantial fees for rights to the Olympics, so the IOC has allowed NBC to influence event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible. On 7 May 2014, NBC agreed to a US$7.75 billion contract extension to air the Olympics through the 2032 games,[115] which is one of the IOC's major sources of revenue.[116] Japanese broadcasters were said to have criticized the decision, as swimming is one of the most popular Olympic events in the country.[117][118]