The final financial report of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games is here. Accordingly, the last budget corrections by the organizing committee Tocog were successful. It reports a balanced budget “thanks to the efforts made to increase revenue and continuously review expenditure”. Costs of 640.4 billion yen, the equivalent of 4.47 billion euros, were therefore covered by grants from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), sponsorship money and an insurance payment of 50 billion yen due to the corona-related postponement from summer 2020 to summer 2021
Not bad for a world sports festival that had to take place without live spectators due to the pandemic and that many would have preferred to cancel beforehand. Japan AG must have done a great job again. Sure, there are still a few issues. For example, the national stadium that was newly built for the Olympics has no subsequent use plan with annual maintenance costs of 2.4 billion yen. But that’s more of a problem for taxpayers than for Tocog. Tokyo’s game creators should be able to sit back and relax.
And the torch story that the Jiji News Agency has now reported? The torch story is one of those things that is left over from a huge event that ultimately wants to be close to the people, primarily for commercial reasons. It was like this: In the weeks leading up to the Olympic Games, as always, there was a relay race to carry the Olympic flame, which had come to the host country from Olympia in Greece, to the opening ceremony. grand gestures. praise of humanity. Show of the exclusive sponsors. Tocog sold the specially made torches to the runners or to local administrations as souvenirs or exhibits. Tocog got rid of all around 10,000 aluminum torches. Unit price: 71,940 yen, almost 500 euros. Resale was forbidden. According to Tocog, that’s what it said on the agreement that every buyer had to sign.
But the ban doesn’t work properly. Torches have now appeared at internet flea markets. The exclusive testimony of the Tokyo Games as junk – bad. Or normal? The fact that an Olympic torch does not fit well into the home, is not suitable either as lighting or as a cigarette lighter, may only become clear over time. Others were clearly thinking about the money, which the IOC does from time to time. In mid-June, a torch was offered for sale on the Internet for 1.25 million yen.
Tocog is angry and has asked online platform operators to delist any Olympic torches they may be offering. “We want the torches to be treated according to the agreement,” Jiji quoted a person on the organizing committee as saying.
The business with the extinguished flame was not going so well anyway. At least the starting price of 1.25 million yen turned out to be far too optimistic. The torch was eventually sold for 560,000 yen. As a “last discount”, as it was called. Actually embarrassing for an object that once burned the Olympic flame.