Amid bright blue skies the Olympic flame arrived at Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi Prefecture on Friday morning, having been flown nearly 6,000 miles from Athens aboard an aircraft called ‘Tokyo 2020 Go’ following its symbolic lighting at the temple of Hera in Ancient Olympia.
As far as much of the rest of the world is concerned, the flame has already gone out.
The Premier League, Euro 2020, the NBA, the Masters and so many more of the world’s great sporting events have succumbed to the coronavirus pandemic, but the biggest of them all is still defiantly scheduled to start on July 24, despite the increasingly widespread disbelief that this is possible.
Tokyo 2020 remains scheduled to start on July 24 despite widespread fears of cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has decimated the global sporting calendar
After speaking with the leaders of the G7 this week, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said that Tokyo 2020 should continue ‘as proof that the human race will conquer the new coronavirus’.
While the Games can certainly bring hope, comfort, distraction and joy during these deeply disturbing times, there are also 1.35 trillion reasons why Abe would want the Olympic show to go on.
The estimated total cost of the 2020 Tokyo Games, according to figures released by organisers last year, is around ¥1.35 trillion – that’s £10.3billion. The Japanese investment in the Olympics is colossal, so vast that the figure is disputed.
Japan has spent around £6bn building facilities and prepare for the Olympics, according to some estimates. That’s investment in building stadiums, competition venues and new hotels. Yet CBS News puts the cost anywhere between $12.6bn to $25.2bn (£10.7bn – £21.5bn).
Over a million Japanese will be employed in servicing the Games across the economy, it is reported, along with 80,000 volunteers specifically involved in staging the event. Around 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes are due to attend, plus their support staff.
According to the International Olympic Committee, 4.5million tickets have been sold in Japan, and around 7.8m are expected to be sold overall. A quarter of those ticket holders were estimated to be flying in from outside of the country.
Many of the figures are mind-boggling, and so are the financial consequences of not staging the Games.
The Olympic flame arrived in Japan on Friday morning aboard the plane ‘Tokyo 2020 Go’
Three-time Olympic gold medallists Tadahiro Nomura (right) and Saori Yoshida light the torch at Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi Prefecture as Japan ploughed on through the crisis
The Olympics are expected to draw huge crowds from inside and outside of Japan
According to the Japan Times, economists are already predicting a 0.7 per cent contraction in Japan’s GDP in 2020, as the world reels from the impact of coronavirus.
But they also warn that contraction could be as high as 1.5 per cent if the Olympics are cancelled.
This is because such a move would hammer Japanese consumer confidence and deprive the country of an astronomical amount of tourist spending, estimated to be ¥240bn (£1.8bn).
And Forbes report that the estimated long-term profits from Japan’s investments in venues and infrastructure could be as high as $225bn – so no wonder Abe is reluctant to pull the plug.
Yet despite the potentially huge economic cost, in a poll this week by a Japanese news service nearly 70 per cent said the Tokyo Games cannot go on as scheduled.
Even the deputy Prime Minister, Taro Aso, has referred to the 2020 Olympics as ‘cursed’.
Since the modern Olympics started in 1896, only three summer games have not gone ahead as scheduled, with the 1916, 1940 and 1944 events cancelled due to World War I and World War II.
No shells will be fired in the fight against coronavirus, but IOC member Dick Pound has warned: ‘This is the new war and you have to face it.’ The Olympics, and the Japanese economy, might be a casualty.
Tokyo has invested hugely in infrastructure for the Games, including on the stunning Ariake Arena, the venue for the volleyball and wheelchair basketball competitions
The New National Stadium will be the home of Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
Japan is set to see billions wiped off the country’s GDP if the Olympics are cancelled