Photo/Illutration A countdown clock shows the number of days left before the start of the Tokyo Olympics on March 24 in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. (Rena Kitamura)

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have been postponed by "about one year" due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have formally agreed on the one-year delay in the Summer Games, which were scheduled to start in late July. The IOC Executive Board unanimously approved the delay in an emergency session.

The decision was made at lightning speed, only two days after the Olympic governing body said it would start looking into options including postponing the event and reach a conclusion in four weeks.

Other options, including moving the event to later this year and a two-year delay, were also discussed, but there was no detailed explanation from Olympic organizers about why a one-year postponement was the best solution or how they had weighed the advantages and disadvantages of each proposal.

Until the new date for the mammoth sporting event is determined, it is impossible to figure out solutions to the raft of challenges to be posed by the postponement.

Organizers probably wanted to calm the frayed nerves of athletes around the world. But a greater factor behind the extremely quick decision was apparently the strong desire shared by the IOC and the Japanese government to avoid the outright cancellation at any cost.

But the decision to hold the Summer Games in 2021 has left both sides in positions fraught with big risks because there cannot be another postponement.

Organizers will have to overcome the colossal and complicated challenge of reorganizing and rearranging in just one year the results of arduous, six-year efforts to prepare for the event.

Starting with negotiations to rearrange the schedules of various sporting events with other international sports organizations, there is an almost endless list of tough tasks involved.

They include carrying out such logistics tasks from scratch such as booking venues for events, securing volunteers to support various operations, reserving many hotel rooms and transportation means and working out security plans.

The biggest hurdle to clear for the Games to be held next year, of course, is a victory against the nasty and insidious virus.

This is a crucial precondition for ensuring what Abe has described as Olympics and Paralympics that are held in "optimal" and "secure and safe" conditions.

The outbreak has to be contained in all parts of the whole world, let alone Japan, if the Summer Games are to be held.

In addition to taking measures to defeat the virus at home, the Japanese government also needs to consider and implement steps that Japan, as the host nation, can and should take to contribute to the global battle against the pandemic.

Financing is also a major issue. Even before the postponement, a massive cost overrun was clear. The questions now are how much more money is needed to finance the sprawling event and who will foot the bill in which ways.

This is an issue that will directly affect taxpayers in Tokyo and the rest of Japan. The government should offer new cost estimates as soon as possible.

In this nation, it is not uncommon for powerful parties to try to suppress even fair questions and reasonable objections in a forceful and blind drive to achieve a goal.

Such an approach will not work for this unprecedented mission. Crucial for the success is a reliable process comprising adequate information disclosure, meticulous explanations and sincere efforts to win broad support and reach an agreement.

The chain of events leading to the decision to put off the Games underscored how the Olympics have swollen into a behemoth incapable of sustaining itself and heavily dependent on money provided by TV broadcasters and large corporate sponsors.

Besides preparing for the rescheduled Olympics and Paralympics, this radical change of plan should be used as an opportunity to reconsider and redefine the future of this sporting extravaganza.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 26

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