What happened at the last Olympics? A look back at Tokyo 2020

While the eyes of the world will soon be upon Paris and the sporting competition, we take a look back at the last summer Olympics, which took place in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, and marked the second time the city had acted as host after Asia’s first Olympics in 1964.

Originally scheduled to be held from July 24-August 9, 2020, the Tokyo Olympics were, like other major sporting events, blighted by the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to move things back by a year. This was an unprecedented move. Previous Games throughout the years had been cancelled, but never rescheduled.

The postponed Games officially began on July 23, 2021, and concluded on August 8. Despite the delay, the event retained the Tokyo 2020 branding for marketing purposes.

Impact of the pandemic on the Olympics

Undoubtedly, the pandemic had an immense impact on the last Olympics. Firstly, the athletes were massively affected. Restrictions made training difficult, and some had to try and keep up their usual training routine from home without the required equipment, facilities and support team. Some resorted to virtual training sessions where athletes trained together via Zoom. Not to mention the mental challenges they must have faced in isolation, like the majority of the population. It was a very different experience building into an Olympics.

The Olympics are a huge tourist attraction, drawing in spectators from all corners of the world. London 2012 had a massive turnout, with up to 180,000 spectators entering the Olympic Park every day of the Games, providing the arenas with an atmosphere like no other.

In Tokyo 2020, that atmosphere was non-existent. Spectators were banned due to the pandemic, and for the first time in Olympic history, world-class athletes had to perform in front of eerily-quiet, empty stadiums. The most that could be heard were dystopian, pre-recorded cheers and the amplified sounds of the athletes competing.

One journalist noted how ‘a lonely-looking volunteer’ dropped her clipboard during a handball match and that the noise was the most audible thing in the Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

The absence of noise was said to have had a polarising effect on athletes, with some performing better, saying that the silence aided concentration, but some saying it added to the stress.

A lack of spectators and tourism meant Japan suffered great economic losses. The amount of investment required to host the Games is astronomic (average costs since 1960 are £4.2bn) but that is usually subsided with boosts in tourism and ticket sales.

Japan spent around ¥1.4 trillion ($13bn or £10.5bn) to host the Games, twice what was originally forecast when Tokyo was awarded the Games in 2013.

USA dominate medals again

For the third consecutive Summer Olympics, the United States topped the medal table, albeit their overall total was slightly lower than five years previously in Rio. American athletes won 113 medals overall: 39 gold, 41 silver and 33 bronze.

China were second on 89 medals, of which 38 were gold, with hosts Japan third for the third time in history (after 1964 and 1968).

Tokyo 2020 medal table

US swimmer Caeleb Dressel emerged from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with the most medals, getting gold in five different races, three individual and two in relays.. He also set a new world record of 49.45 seconds in the men’s 100m butterfly final.

Gymnast Simone Biles had been aiming for six gold medals at the Games. In the end she won a team silver and bronze on the beam but it was her decision to prioritise her mental health, pulling out of the women’s team final after suffering with the ‘twisties’, which drew widespread attention.

Italy’s former long jumper Marcell Jacobs shocked everyone when he took gold in the men’s 100m final, beating USA’s Fred Kerley into silver and becoming the first European to win the race since Linford Christie in 1992. Dutch runner Sifan Hassan, meanwhile, became the first person to win medals over 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m, including gold in the latter two, while Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah completed the 100m and 200m double before adding a third gold in the women’s 4x100m relay.

Skateboarding became an Olympic sport in Tokyo 2020, with Japan taking gold in three out of the four events. Keegan Palmer, of Australia, denied the hosts a clean sweep in the men’s park event. But in winning the women’s street competition, 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya became Japan’s youngest gold medallist.

Japan’s Ryo Kiyuna also made history as one of the new champions crowned as karate made its Olympic debut. Surfing and sport climbing had first-time gold medalists too, including five-time world surfing champion Carissa Moore becoming the first female champion.

‘Greatest achievement in British Olympic history’

Despite the difficult circumstances brought about by the pandemic, Team GB made the nation proud and secured a whopping 64 medals, one fewer than London 2012. It was also their second-best overseas Olympics, second to Rio 2016 where the team took home 67 medals.

With 22 gold, 20 silver and 22 bronze, it’s safe to say they put on a brilliant performance. Tokyo 2020 was also Team GB’s best Games for women, with female athletes contributing 28 medals to the total. Amid all the challenges posed by the pandemic, Mark England, chef de mission, called the Games “the greatest achievement in British Olympic history.”

Highlights included Matty Lee and Tom Daley’s gold-winning performance in the 10m synchro final; Adam Peaty’s ridiculously fast men’s 100m breaststroke victory, and a biggest ever swimming medal haul at an Olympic Games, to name but a few in the pool.

Gymnast Max Whitlock retained gold in the men’s pommel horse despite his nerves while the women’s gymnastics team claimed their first medal in the event since Amsterdam 1928.

There was a first female weightlifting Olympic medal for Britain, thanks to Emily Campbell’s silver, and skateboarder Sky Brown, 13 years and 28 days, became the youngest British Olympian to win a medal. Dame Laura Kenny took her career tally to five golds and one silver, making her the most decorated British female Olympian and most decorated female Olympic cyclist of any nation.

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