Photo/Illutration The Olympic rings on display at the Odori Koen park in Sapporo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Sapporo and the Japanese Olympic Committee have formally withdrawn the northern Japanese city’s candidacy to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. But they have vowed to continue to seek Sapporo’s possible candidacy for 2034 or later.

Merely postponing the plan is not a workable course of action. The circumstances surrounding the global sporting spectacle, both domestically and internationally, have shifted drastically from nine years ago when Sapporo first announced its bid to host the Games.

Perhaps it is time to reset the plan and restart discussions on the undertaking from scratch.

The selection process for Olympic host cities has undergone significant changes in recent years. The International Olympic Committee has removed a requirement to decide on a host city seven years in advance and instead introduced “continuous dialogue,” an open-ended phase of consultation with candidate cities.

In the past, cities that lost in the general assembly voting to select a host city were essentially out of contention, but under the current system, cities can remain “candidates” indefinitely if they wish. This flexibility could easily lead to a never-ending cycle of bidding without a clear outcome.

The reforms of the selection process have made it even more important for interested cities to be able to analyze the situation accurately and make informed decisions.

Even if Sapporo changes its target date, the outcome of its bid will remain murky. The likely competitors for the right to host the 2034 Winter Games include cities with solid reputations, such as Salt Lake City in the United States, which hosted the Games in 2002 and enjoys robust support from local communities.

At the same time, the IOC is also beginning to consider major reforms to the process of selecting winter venues as it is becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified candidates amid the challenges posed by climate change.

Explaining the reasons for the decision in an Oct. 11 news conference, Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto said, “Citizens have voiced a lot of concerns and apprehensions. We cannot say with any certainty that our bid to host the Games has gained sufficiently broad support and understanding.”

He apparently underestimated the degree of public distrust in the entire Olympic system that has only been exacerbated by massive corruption and bid-rigging scandals involving the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The abruptness of the Oct. 11 announcement left many people wondering why now as there is no sign that ample debate was held among those involved in deciding to delay the bid.

The debacle has cast the spotlight again on the responsibility of the JOC, which oversees domestic Olympic-related activities.

The structural corruption scandal surrounding the Tokyo Games had its roots in how the JOC completely delegated and handed over all core functions of managing the massive event, along with related responsibilities and tasks, to an advertising agency.

The JOC  also failed in its responsibility to provide beneficial advice or conduct due diligence on host cities. Its investigation into allegations surrounding Tokyo’s Olympic bid has been inadequate.

Sapporo first decided to seek the right to host the 2026 Winter Olympics in 2014 and then shifted its target to the 2030 version in 2018 in the aftermath of the Eastern Iburi Earthquake that year.

Looking back on this history, many people must be feeling a bitter disappointment. But the efforts to host the Winter Olympics have already cost several billions of yen, including personnel costs.

One fundamental question the fiasco should raise is how the positive and negative effects of hosting such huge international events should be assessed and balanced in the context of a city’s growth and its future vision.

This setback should be viewed as an opportune moment to step back from the “win-at-all-costs” mentality and rethink the full implications of hosting the Olympics from scratch.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 12

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