Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, athletic competition held in Tokyo that took place July 23–August 8, 2021. Scheduled for 2020, the Summer Games were postponed until the next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the first Olympics ever held after the proposed start date. They were still referred to as the 2020 Games for marketing purposes and to keep with Olympic naming tradition. The pandemic also prompted the Japanese Olympic Committee to bar spectators from the sporting venues, making the competition the only Olympics ever held without official spectators. The 2020 Olympics marked the return of the Summer Games to Japan after more than 50 years (the 1964 Summer Olympics were also held in Tokyo).

In early 2020, as the novel coronavirus began spreading more rapidly, health experts raised concerns about the viability of the Olympics. Although the Olympics had faced virus-related challenges in the past (e.g., the Zika virus at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics and the swine flu at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games), those events were held as scheduled. However, COVID-19 immediately affected Olympic qualifying events, many of which were moved to a new location, delayed, or canceled. On March 12, 2020, the lighting of the Olympic flame occurred in Olympia, Greece, but only before a small audience because of health concerns; the following day, the Greece portion of the torch relay was suspended after large crowds followed the torch through Sparta; and on March 24, with international pressure and health concerns mounting, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the postponement of the Olympics until 2021.

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In early 2021, rumors circulated that the Olympics were going to be canceled, which Japan and the IOC vehemently denied. On March 25, the Olympic torch relay finally began. Many Japanese citizens expressed their concern over public safety by protesting in the streets. Although athletes and organizers continued to test positive for COVID, Olympic officials denied there was a health risk to the public, citing the ban on spectators and the high vaccination rates among athletes and attending media. Despite polls showing that a majority of Japanese were against hosting the Games, the event officially began on July 23, with the opening ceremony held in a nearly empty Tokyo Olympic Stadium. Although most athletes did not wear protective masks while competing in events, most did so during the opening, medal, and closing ceremonies of the Games.

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In all, the Games included 33 sports and 339 events, which were competed at 42 venues, with more than 11,000 participating athletes from 205 countries; there was also a team of international refugees. The Games cost some $13 billion, with $1.4 billion spent on the new Kengo Kuma-designed National Stadium, which seats 68,000. It was estimated that the ban on spectators cost the Japanese Olympic committee $800 million in ticket sales.

The collegial spirit of the Games was highlighted by high jumpers Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy, who chose to share the gold medal rather than proceed with a jump-off to determine the winner. The two men, who had been friends for more than a decade at the time of the Games, said they never considered going to the jump-off. “This is beyond sport,” Barshim said at the time, according to the Associated Press. “This is the message we deliver to the young generation.”