The Story of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Is Already Taking Shape

Brad Glosserman

Sports, Asia

And why it matters. 

The 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games have concluded. While athletes and audiences bask in the glow of superlative performances, the historical retelling of these games, like virtually all other Olympics, will focus as much on what happened outside the competition as occurred inside the venues. The Olympics are equal parts sporting events and national and geopolitical landmarks. As the Olympic torch passes from Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo, some of the most important strands of the 2020 Olympic out of competition narrative are already clear.

When the history of the 2020 Games is written, perhaps the central figure in that telling will be Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Abe worked hard to secure Tokyo’s victory in the bidding for the Games (although the previous DPJ government did a lot of the heavy lifting at the beginning of the process). His surprise performance at the Rio closing ceremony, appearing as Super Mario, is one sign of his commitment to success in 2020. Abe isn’t the most relaxed politician, but any thoughts about hurting the dignity of his office and image by popping up as a video game character – a plumber, no less – were balanced by knowledge that Queen Elizabeth made a cameo in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Games.

A successful Tokyo Olympics will cap an extraordinary tenure for Abe as prime minister, a term that began just before Tokyo was awarded the games and should – in theory, at least – end in September 2018, two years before they take place. Indeed, there is talk of allowing him to stay in office because of his success, which would permit him to watch the games as national leader, rather than a “mere” spectator.

Whether he stays in office beyond the usual term – and if he were to serve as PM until the Olympics, Abe will be the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history – will greatly depend on the fate of Abenomics, the economic program that bears his name. An assessment of Abenomics will be the second key strand of the Olympic narrative.

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