Tokyo 2020 Olympics (2020 Summer Olympics): Here's all you need to know about the 'Games of the XXXII Olympiad'

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: The 2020 summer Olympics is an international sports event that will be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021, in the city of Tokyo, Japan. As the name suggests, this summer Olympics were originally intended to be held from 24 July to 9 August 2020, but due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, Tokyo 2020 Olympics was postponed. 

The name ‘Tokyo 2020’ is not changed to ‘Tokyo 2021’ because of marketing and branding reasons. This is also the first time in history when an Olympic games event is postponed instead of being cancelled. 

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Complete Schedule

Check the full schedule of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics through the link mentioned below. As of now, 33 competitions and 339 events will be held across 42 venues. 

Tokyo 2020 Olympics Schedule: Check the complete list of sporting events

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: List of Games and Sports 

Below is a complete list of all the sports and games that are to be included in the 2020 Summer Olympics:

2. Archery
3. Artistic Gymnastics
4. Artistic Swimming
5. Athletics
6. Badminton
7. Baseball/Softball
8. Basketball
9. Beach Volleyball
10. Boxing
11. Canoe Slalom
12. Canoe Sprint
13. Cycling BMX Freestyle
14. Cycling BMX Racing
15. Cycling Mountain Bike
16. Cycling Road
17. Cycling Track
18. Diving
19. Equestrian
20. Fencing
21. Football
22. Golf
23. Handball
24. Hockey
25. Judo
26. Karate
27. Marathon Swimming
28. Modern Pentathlon
29. Rhythmic Gymnastics
30. Rowing
31. Rugby Sevens
32. Sailing
33. Shooting 
34. Skateboarding
35. Sport Climbing
36. Surfing
37. Swimming
38. Table Tennis
39. Taekwondo
40. Tennis
41. Trampoline Gymnastics
42. Triathlon
43. Volleyball
44. Water Polo
45. Weightlifting
46. Wrestling

There will be 339 events in total, in 33 different types of sports. 5 New games will be introduced along with fifteen new events including 3x3 Basketball, Freestyle BMX and Madison Cycling (Continued again).

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: List of Indian Athletes Qualified 

Out of 120 Indian athletes, 68 are male and 52 are female participants. Access the complete list of Indian players qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics through the below link.  

List of Indian athletes qualified for Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Which nations will participate?

Below -mentioned nations are expected to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics: 

1. Albania
2.  Algeria
3.  American Samoa
4.  Andorra
5.  Angola
6.  Argentina
7.  Armenia
8.  Australia
9.  Austria
10.  Azerbaijan
11. the Bahamas
12.  Bahrain
13.  Bangladesh
14.  Barbados
15.  Belarus
16.  Belgium
17.  Benin
18.  Bermuda
19.  Bhutan
20.  Bosnia and Herzegovina
21.  Botswana
22.  Brazil
23. the British Virgin Islands
24.  Bulgaria
25.  Burkina Faso
26.  Burundi
27.  Cameroon
28.  Canada
29.  Cayman Islands
30.  Chad
31.  Chile
32.  China
33.  Colombia
34. the Cook Islands
35.  Costa Rica
36.  Croatia
37.  Cuba
38.  Cyprus
39.  The Czech Republic
40.  The Democratic Republic of the Congo
41.  Denmark
42.  Djibouti
43.  Dominica
44. the Dominican Republic
45.  Ecuador
46.  Egypt
47.  El Salvador
48.  Eritrea
49.  Estonia
50.  Ethiopia
51.  Fiji
52.  Finland
53.  France
54.  Gabon
55.  The Gambia
56.  Georgia
57.  Germany
58.  Ghana
59.  Great Britain
60.  Greece
61.  Grenada
62.  Guatemala
63.  Guyana
64.  Haiti
65.  Hong Kong
66.  Hungary
67.  Iceland
68.  India
69.  Indonesia
70.  Iran
71.  Ireland
72.  Israel
73.  Italy
74.  Ivory Coast
75.  Jamaica
76.  Japan (host)
77.  Jordan
78.  Kazakhstan
79.  Kenya
80.  Kosovo
81.  Kuwait
82.  Kyrgyzstan
83.  Latvia
84.  Lebanon
85.  Lesotho
86.  Liberia
87.  Libya
88.  Liechtenstein
89.  Lithuania
90.  Luxembourg
91.  Malaysia
92.  Mali
93.  Mauritius
94.  Mexico
95.  Moldova
96.  Mongolia
97.  Morocco
98.  Mozambique
99.  Namibia
100. the Netherlands
101.  New Zealand
102.  Niger
103.  Nigeria
104.  North Korea
105.  North Macedonia
106.  Norway
107.  Pakistan
108.  Panama
109.  Papua New Guinea
110.  Paraguay
111.  Peru
112.  Philippines
113.  Poland
114.  Portugal
115.  Puerto Rico
116.  Qatar
117.  Romania
118.  Rwanda
119.  Samoa
120.  San Marino
121.  São Tomé and Príncipe
122.  Saudi Arabia
123.  Senegal
124.  Serbia
125.  Seychelles
126.  Singapore
127.  Slovakia
128.  Slovenia
129.  South Africa
130.  South Korea
131.  Spain
132.  Suriname
133.  Sweden
134.  Switzerland
135.  Syria
136.  Chinese Taipei
137.  Tajikistan
138.  Tanzania
139.  Thailand
140.  Togo
141.  Tonga
142.  Trinidad and Tobago
143.  Tunisia
144.  Turkey
145.  Uganda
146.  Ukraine
147.  United States
148.  Uruguay
149.  Uzbekistan
150.  Venezuela
151.  Vietnam
152.  Zambia
153.  Zimbabwe

How Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be conducted in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic?

In the past, there have been outbreaks of infectious diseases during Olympics time, but the ongoing COVID-19 has a high mortality rate in comparison with the other diseases of the past such as Zika Virus during the 2016 Summer Olympics and H1N1 “Swine flu” during the 2010 Winter Olympics. 

The qualifying event for Tokyo 2020 Olympics was scheduled for early 2020. The locations of some of the qualifying events that were to be held in the month of February 2020 were changed to locations with less risk of coronavirus. The qualification event for Boxing was to be held in Wuhan, China-- the centre of the COVID-19 outbreak which was later changed to Amman, Jordan. Also, the location of the third round of the women’s football qualification event was changed from China to Australia. 

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: How the doping tests were affected?

Doping tests have not been conducted due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The European anti-doping committee was not in favour of conducting anti-doping tests because it would pose a greater health risk for the players as well as the committee team. Anti-doping agencies of nations like the US, Great Britain, France, and Germany have lessened their testing activities since March 2020. 

Why Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be the most expensive Olympics ever?

The official costs of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics published last year was $12.6 billion and the overall spending was placed at least $25 billion. 

However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the official costs of the organizers are expected to increase by $2.8 billion, thereby making the Tokyo 2020 Olympics the most expensive Olympics ever. 

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Should the 2020 Summer Olympics be held?

Japanese broadcaster NHK published a report on a telephone poll of 1,200 people. Out of these, 63% were of the view that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics should be postponed or cancelled while 27% voted in favour (2020 Summer Olympics should be held). The poll was conducted on 11-13 December 2020.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: COVID-19 positive cases

According to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers, two athletes residing in the Olympic village tested positive for COVID-19. To date, there are a total of 12 new positive cases.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Mascot

Image Credit: Olympics.org

The name of the 2020 Summer Olympics Mascot is Miraitowa. It is derived from the Japanese words Mirai (future) and Towa (eternity). The mascot embodies both the old and the new, echoing the concept of "innovation from harmony". The Mascot was created by Ryo Taniguchi. 

International Olympics Committee (IOC)

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is a not-for-profit organization based in Switzerland and is currently headed by Thomas Bach. The Committee decides the rules and regulations of the Olympic Games. It also decides when and where the next Olympics event will be held. 'Tokyo' was named as the most favourable candidate for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

East Asia is the most favourable spot for hosting the Olympic Games for over three years now. In 2018, Pyeongchang County, South Korea hosted the Summer Olympics, and the 2022 Olympics will be held in Beijing, China. 

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