The Summer Olympics 2020
Let the Game begin!
The 2020 Summer Olympics will be hosted by the city of TOKYO, JAPAN. Making it the first city in Asia to host the Olympic twice (it previously did so in 1964). The games will take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020.
The 32nd Games will feature 33 sports, across 50 disciplines and 339 medals events. Five new sports have been added to the existing ones: karate, sport climbing, surfing, skateboarding are going to make their debut in these Games which are also marked by the return of baseball(men)/softball(women), which were excluded after 2008.
Fifteen new events have also been added to the existing events, including 3-on-3 basketball, freestyle BMX and Madison cycling, along with other new mixed events in several sports.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN TOKYO?
As many as 206 nations are expected to participate and the newly built Olympic stadium in Tokyo has a capacity ranging from 60,000 to 80,000 spectators. Many of the iconic stadiums from the earlier Tokyo Olympics, way back in 1964 have been reopened and renovated for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games-plus, of course, there will be new, state- of – the- art venues.
Twenty seven venues out of a total of 42 are located in the two halves of the Olympics village-the Tokyo Bay Zone and the Heritage Zone, respectively. The outlying venues, which are more than 8 Km away from the Olympic village, are particularly meant for sports such as surfing, baseball/ softball and football.
THE MASCOTS The official Mascots of the Olympics and the Paralympics 2020 are Miraitowa and Someity respectively. Miraitowa is representative of a traditional Japanese proverb, that emphasizes old things well and to gain new knowledge from them. It has a strong sense of justice and is very athletics. Someity is a calm character that is usually quiet, but can display great power when necessary. It embodies the strength of the Paralympic athletes, who overcome hurdles and challenge the boundaries of possibility.
THE LOGO Designed by Asao Tokolo, the logo for the 2020 games is a ring in an indigo ichimatsu moyo (checkerboard) pattern. The design is meant to represent ‘a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan’. It is composed of three varieties of rectangular shapes, symbolic of different countries, cultures and ways of thinking.