Tokyo 2020 Selects Cauldron Location

(ATR) The Olympic Flame will shine on Tokyo Bay during the 2020 Olympics, as organizers select a site for the cauldron that will be illuminated during the Games.

"Tokyo 2020 took into account the IOC’s stipulation that the location should be a symbolic site which would allow as many people as possible to view the Flame without having to purchase tickets for the Games," Tokyo 2020 said in a statement.

"Considering all these factors, as well as security and operational issues, it was decided that the Ariake side of the Yume-no-Ohashi Bridge in the waterfront area would be an ideal location."

Ariake will host a number of venues during the 2020 Olympics, including an urban park housing skateboarding and BMX freestyle, and the gymnastics arena. The area is also close to the Aomi urban park, the International Broadcast Center and Main Press Center, and the iconic Rainbow Bridge.

Like Rio 2016, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will not have a central Olympic Park. This created a need for a location for the Olympic flame, as rules state the flame must be visible to the general public during the Games.

A cauldron in Tokyo Olympic Stadium will be used for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. At the conclusion of the Opening Ceremony the flame will be transferred to the Tokyo waterfront area, lighting the second cauldron.

After the Olympic cauldron was lit at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the flame was immediately used to light a secondary cauldron near the Candelaria Church in downtown. The second cauldron was located on the "Olympic Boulevard," a public walkway with hospitality booths and a public live site to watch the Games.

Tokyo 2020 says the decision to place the cauldron in Ariake doesn't mean it will be the permanent location for the cauldron after the Olympics and Paralympics finish. However, organizers say "the vicinity of the cauldrons’ Games-time locations will be natural choices for their permanent locations after the Games". The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will administer the cauldron following the conclusion of the Paralympics.

Tokyo Budget Looming

Tokyo 2020 will release its version three budget on Dec. 21, which is expected to look like the version two budget.

Since the 2018 IOC Session in Buenos Aires Tokyo 2020 and the IOC have been touting major cost savings for the Olympic project. However, Kyodo News is reporting that the costs laid out in the version three budget will be the same from version two. In the last budget, Tokyo 2020 said the overall cost of the Games would be set at $12 billion (1.35 trillion yen).

Earlier this month Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto said that new costs related to combating extreme weather were to blame for offsetting any budget cuts. Muto said that organizers were working to ensure version three of the budget would not exceed version two.

Tokyo 2020’s budget has come under scrutiny since the beginning of this year when Tokyo Metropolitan Governor Yuriko Koike said that new projects needed to improve accessibility for the Paralympics meant an increase in Olympic spending. Tokyo 2020 quickly said that these costs were outside the scope of the agreed upon budget and therefore not explicit Olympic projects.

Then in October, the Japanese Board of Audits said that so far $7 billion had been spent on the 2020 Olympics, equaling the amount the 2020 bid book projected all Olympic costs to be. That plus Koike’s statements produced some calculations that estimated the total Tokyo 2020 cost to be near $25 billion when all was said and done.

Muto said in October that many of the projects cited by the board of audits were not included in the official budget, and told Around the Rings that it was "not appropriate and not accurate" for the national government to label them as such.

"I think there should be a clear demarcation between our budget and those expenses," Muto said. "If there is any or just a little benefit to the Olympics should that be called an Olympic budget? I don’t think that’s accurate."

Tokyo 2020 is still working to balance its organizing committee budget, which stands at $5.6 billion. Of that, revenues of around $3 billion are sponsorships. The rest of the money coming in, including the IOC contribution, ticket sales, and merchandise sales, remains only projections.

"Those clearer numbers will be incorporated into the version [three] budget," Muto said following the IOC Coordination Commission visit this month.

"There are things that will reduce and there are things that will increase. We don’t know the grand consequences, but we cannot exceed the level of the version [two] budget. That is the working thought we have with the version three budget."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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