There will be no chants of “USA! USA!” from the stands this Olympic Games, with Tokyo barring overseas spectators and limiting the number of domestic fans to 50% of capacity. The decision is a safety measure in light of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a decision that will cost Tokyo about $15 billion, according to financial website WalletHub.
Still, the impact of the Games on Tokyo’s economy “can be great, but it depends on the Japanese government’s ability to control the pandemic,” Daniel Rodriguez, a professor in the Department of Urban Public Health and Nutrition, School of Nursing and Health Sciences at La Salle University, told WalleHub. “The whole world will be watching, so it is an ideal opportunity to present Tokyo’s best. With the rise of other regional economic powers, such as China and South Korea, Japan is not quite the economic force it used to be. So, any event that can showcase Tokyo and Japan, and remind us why Japanese culture is so beautiful, will certainly help.”
This is the fourth time Japan is host city for the Olympics, set to begin Friday, July 23. The Summer Games were held in Tokyo in 1964. The Winter Games were held in Sapporo in 1972 and in Nagano in 1998. The International Olympic Committee is still referring to these games as Tokyo 2020, despite a yearlong postponement because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To help get you ready for all the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games offer, WalletHub compiled stats into an infographic filled with facts on every major aspect of the XXXII Olympiad.
Here are the top seven:
- $26 billion+ – Estimated cost of hosting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
- $900 million – Amount to be spent on coronavirus countermeasures.
- $15 million – Estimated economic loss for Japan from barring overseas spectators and limiting the number of domestic fans to 50% of capacity.
- 80% – Share of people in Japan who want the Tokyo Olympics canceled or postponed again as the coronavirus pandemic rolls on.
- 44,000 – Number of security personnel who will work the Tokyo Games – roughly half the number of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
- 1st – Games to use security features managed by artificial intelligence, with the ability to correctly verify the faces of 230 million people in one second.
- 15 years – Age of the youngest member of Team USA, swimmer Katie Grimes.
