A String of Embarrassing Incidents
Before the tournament even began, participants complained about too few rooms and poor-quality accommodation. Organisers had skipped a traditional athletes' village to cut costs, housing participants in hotels and container-style units across Nagoya instead. A top Korean basketball official said tall athletes in the containers struggled to "stretch their legs out on the beds." Last-minute additions to the participant numbers strained the city so much that an Italian cruise ship with 1,500 cabins was brought in to fill the gap.
Deputy director general Takaaki Omi said accommodation was first arranged for up to 15,000 delegation members "in accordance with the host city contract," but the number grew by 2,000 to 17,000 as other sports were added. Organisers first claimed there was "simply nowhere" to put up the late arrivals and told them to make their own arrangements. They then backpedalled, releasing a joint statement with the Olympic Council of Asia promising that all "17,000-plus" guests would get "Games-appropriate accommodation."
That was only the start. Athletes were bussed to the wrong venues, and the North Korean anthem was played for the South Korean men's hockey team. At the men's football gold medal ceremony, the South Korean flag wasn't raised properly. Taiwan's sports minister was temporarily barred from a flag-raising event. In the final days, volunteers received an email inviting them to the closing ceremony free of charge, only for an organiser to say later that the free tickets were still under review and hadn't been approved.
Omi admitted the incidents, at an event bigger than the Paris Olympics by number of participants, caused significant inconvenience for some delegations. "Hosting and managing an event of this scale was a major challenge for us," he said, adding that organisers listened to athletes' feedback and responded promptly with improvements. Prof Kozo Tomiyama of Osaka University, who studies major sporting events, believes organisers couldn't handle the unexpected. He warned that if the problems damage international confidence, they could affect Japan's ability to attract future competitions.
Who Was to Blame?
Local media quickly pointed fingers at the company running venue operations, the Japanese subsidiary of France's GL Events. It won a 63bn yen (£306m; $405m) contract over Dentsu Group, an advertising giant with a long record of running sporting events in Japan that had been sidelined after a criminal bid-rigging conviction. A source told Kyodo news agency that GL Events was "overwhelmingly cheaper" than the alternatives. Last week the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper accused the firm of aggressively cutting corners on hiring, leaving too few experienced staff, and said those recruited were not properly trained.
Omi stressed that GL Events "has experience in international sporting events, including the Paris Olympic Games," and said the necessary competition environment was in place by the start of competition. Tomiyama didn't think it was right to conclude the firm lacked experience. He believes the problem was the "extremely broad" scope of responsibility it was given. Because the deal was a negotiated contract rather than a competitive tender, he said, it's important to examine the criteria used to judge the contractor and how it was supervised afterwards. GL Events did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Hopes for the Future
Watching organisers play whack-a-mole with each new problem felt deeply out of line with what the world expects from a major Japanese event. It was far from the "omotenashi" spirit, Japan's whole-hearted hospitality, that hosts might have hoped to showcase. Officials had to send a formal apology to South Korea over the mishaps affecting its delegation.
Olympic Council of Asia director general Husain al-Musallam pointed to the 54 new world records set in swimming, weightlifting and shooting as proof of success. "The athletes cannot perform if they don't sleep good, the athletes cannot perform if they don't have good transportation," he said.
The problems haven't ended with the Games. At the ongoing Para Games, the wrong national anthems were played at three events. Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa, who is also deputy head of the organising committee, called it "unacceptable" and apologised. Tomiyama hopes organisers will learn from the past few weeks and deliver higher-quality events in future.
