Snow is the order of the day in Sapporo over Christmas. As always, winter keeps its promises in the city of millions on the Japanese northern island of Hokkaido. Climate change hasn’t upset the weather enough, however, to rely on the cold Siberian winds sweeping across the northern Sea of Japan during the darker season, picking up moisture, crashing against the mountains of Hokkaido and settling there discharged in heavy snowfalls. Nothing will change that anytime soon. The University of Waterloo in Canada published a study last January that said Sapporo, host of the 1972 Winter Games, will be the only ex-Olympic city by the end of this century with cold conditions suitable for hosting the Winter Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should definitely honor the Japanese location if it values its Winter Games. Will that work? That’s just in question.
On Tuesday, Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto announced that his city’s bid for 2030 had been put on hold for the time being. “We must first allay the public’s uneasiness and not blindly push forward without regard to current appearances,” he said. It may therefore be that the ongoing crisis of confidence in the games circle will soon blow the next competent applicant off the stage. The background to Sapporo’s new restraint is the aftermath of the latest Japanese gaming adventure.
An arrest, three raids – and the suspicion that the award was manipulated
The Tokyo Games Organizing Committee (Tocog), which has since been dissolved, has been accused of bribery. Ex-board member Haruyuki Takahashi, an influential sports marketer, and other businessmen were arrested. In the course of the scandal, the suspicion also arose that there could have been manipulation in the applications for the 2020 Olympics. There were raids on three marketing agencies, including industry giant Dentsu, a longtime IOC partner.
The Tokyo Games weren’t the most popular event in Japan’s history anyway. Despite the Corona wave, they were pulled through in the summer of 2021. Spectators weren’t allowed, and foreign tourists weren’t anyway. There were many Japanese medals, virus protection worked, the organizers were happy. But now most of the sports facilities in Tokyo have been dismantled – and little more is left of the festival than this scandal that is weighing on Sapporo’s plans.
The mood for the Olympics in Japan is so modest that not even prominent politicians are optimistic. “Given the series of issues surrounding the Tokyo Games, it will be difficult to build momentum,” said Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki. Former Olympic Minister and ex-Tocog boss Seiko Hashimoto even explained her concerns by stating: “The meaning and value of the Tokyo Games are in question.”
In addition, the IOC itself does not really know what to do with its winter games. The decision on the 2030 Olympic host should actually be made in September 2023. But it was postponed to an unspecified date in 2024. Research results on ongoing climate change have obviously startled the IOC. At least Christophe Dubi, executive director of the Olympic Games, referred to studies at a press conference on December 6th, according to which there is a risk that there will soon be fewer places with guaranteed Winter Games weather. That’s why the IOC wanted to give its Winter Games Commission more time to study the problem.
Now only Salt Lake City remains, but the Americans are actually more interested in 2034
It’s a bit surprising that it takes more time to do this. Climate change is not new. But perhaps the postponement also has something to do with the IOC’s obvious applicant crisis. Only in October did the application from Vancouver run out of air because it was too expensive for the British Columbia government. In addition to Sapporo, only Salt Lake City was in the running after that, although the Americans would rather have their turn in 2034 because of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. And now the favorite Sapporo is on the brink. Is the Winter Olympics coming to an end?
Mayor Akimoto makes a point of noting that Sapporo’s bid is not dead. It’s just a reorientation to allay concerns after the Tokyo revelations. They want to impose strict anti-corruption measures, Akimoto said on Tuesday: “We will revise and publish our operational plan and thereby confirm the will of the public.” The new game concept should be ready in the spring. After that, a national poll is planned to determine whether the Japanese are for or against the Olympics in Sapporo. If the games critics then win, the IOC will lose its most snow-sure Olympic contender for the time being.
