Faster, Higher, Stronger | Tokyo 2020: unprecedented postponement presents unique opportunity for 2021 rebrand, but can Japan capitalise?
- Tokyo will get a once-in-a-lifetime chance next summer to host the first ever postponed Games in an odd-numbered year
- Japan needs to embrace this new status rather than try to relive 2020 and what will become a year we would all like to forget
Now that the dust has settled on changing the dates for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad – July 24-August 9 of 2020 now becomes July 23-August 8 of 2021 – hopefully, we can have some lighthearted fun surrounding what is a remarkably unprecedented situation.
The Olympics have never been postponed, but they have been cancelled three times. In 1916, the Summer Olympics, originally scheduled for Berlin, Germany, were axed because of the First World War.
Twenty years later, Germany got a second chance to host the Games, but by that time things were a bit different to say the least. The 1936 Olympics took place in Nazi Germany under the watchful eye of Adolf Hitler.
We all know that led to the Second World War, and also the eventual demise of the 1940 Olympics, originally scheduled to take place in Japan. Those Games were tentatively rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, but in September of 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and in December of 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbour.