Tokyo’s scandal-tinged Olympic stadium will be completed in time for the 2020 games, the city’s governor said yesterday, as London Mayor Boris Johnson warned of the pitfalls of “playing politics” when hosting the competition.
Japan’s preparations for the Games suffered a setback this summer when the Japanese government pulled the plug on its flagship stadium following spiraling costs and complaints over the design.
Organizers have instead opted for a cheaper alternative stadium, which must now be rushed to be completed in time.
Photo: AFP
“Cooperating with the national government ... we will do everything we can so that we will complete construction of a new national stadium by January 2020,” Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe told reporters.
He added that the six new venues being built for the Games were all “proceeding on schedule.”
Masuzoe’s comments came ahead of a meeting later yesterday with officials from the International Olympic Committee, in town to assess the ongoing preparations for the Games.
Masuzoe also welcomed Johnson, who won an election shortly before London hosted the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Those Games were held at a fraction of the cost of Beijing’s four years earlier and came in significantly under budget — a rarity in the notoriously spendthrift world of Olympic hosting.
Asked by reporters what the key to London’s success was, Johnson said it was competent communication among all government and city departments involved in preparing the Games.
“And that was the case all across all party lines. There was nobody who tried to make politics ... that was I think very, very important for our success,” he said.
Tokyo’s stadium fiasco has pushed back a new venue’s completion date, embarrassing Japanese sports officials, who have also been forced to find an alternate showpiece site for Rugby World Cup matches in 2019.
At the time it was canceled, Tokyo’s stadium — designed by British architect Zaha Hadid — was on track to become the world’s most expensive.
The futuristic design had also been criticized by some architects, who said it would be an eyesore.
However, Johnson defended the stadium’s aethetics.
“Zaha did a fantastic job ... and I’m sure she will do lots of wonderful works in Japan and around the world,” he said.
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