Get to Know the New Tokyo Olympic Stadium

The new Tokyo Olympic Stadium is finally ready and waiting for the next Olympics.

Japanese people are finalizing the details for what will be the 32nd Modern Olympic Games. And they’ve spared no expense in terms of infrastructure. In this article, we’ll tell you all about the new Tokyo Olympic Stadium.

Background of the new Tokyo Olympic Stadium

Built in 1958 as a sports hall for the 1958 Asian Games and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the old Tokyo stadium was the work of architect Kenzo Tange. It represented the revival of the Japanese people after World War II.

Subsequently, it was used for the 1991 World Athletics Championship and the Intercontinental Cup finals between 1980 and 2004 (current FIFA Club World Cup). Each year, the Emperor’s Cup and J. League Cup finals took place in this stadium, as well as several rugby matches.

The old Tokyo Stadium was demolished in October 2015, after 61 years of life. The goal was to have a venue with larger capacity; they were looking to fit around 80,000 spectators for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The new Tokyo Olympic Stadium

When Tokyo became the country in charge of organizing the games, they began thinking about rebuilding the national Olympic stadium. However, in 2012 they finally decided to demolish it and build a new one at the same spot, following a huge financial investment.

They chose the design of the late Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016. However, they had budget issues and many people didn’t like the model. Therefore, they changed the plans and hired Kengo Kuma, a Japanese architect.

Stadium modifications include canceling the retractable roof and converting permanent seats to temporary. They also reduced the area of the premises from 71 to 52 acres.

One of the problems they ran into when building the new Tokyo Olympic Stadium was the roof; it required steel arches and an additional investment of 300 million yen to make it mobile. In total, the construction works would cost three times more than the London Olympic Stadium and five times more than Beijing.

The Japanese government reached an agreement with the construction company to spend 250 billion yen in total. Soon after, the Prime Minister announced that the construction works would be canceled, but they changed their minds at the last minute.

Efficiency and savings in construction

The retractable roof was definitely out of the budget. Therefore, they decided to build a permanent roof over the spectators’ seats instead (the field is outdoors). They also abandoned the idea of building a sports museum, and they reduced the size of VIP lounges and underground parking facilities.

With all these changes, the new Tokyo Stadium is 13 percent smaller (and cheaper) than the original design. In addition to all of this, they abandoned the idea of installing air conditioning according to the plans of Minister Shinzo Abe, arguing that it can only lower the temperature by 2 or 3 degrees. Instead, they installed 185 fans and eight sprayers, considering that during the summer, the temperatures in Tokyo can exceed 40 °C.

Capacity and final details

Because of the delay in the start of the construction works, which began in December 2016, it wasn’t possible to open in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The new stadium had a capacity for 80,000 people during the opening (July 24) and closing ceremonies (August 9) of the Olympic Games.

During the athletics tests (from July 31 to August 9), the capacity goes down to 60,000 people. The men’s soccer final will also take place there on August 8.

During the Paralympic Games, the capacity will be even lower (57,000 people). This is because it must adapt to people with different abilities. That’s why they considered temporary seats.

Finally, and after four years of works, the new Tokyo Olympic Stadium officially opened its doors in December 2019. The finished work has a very defined Japanese style, and its design pays homage to the Horyuji Temple pagoda, which was built 1,300 years ago. The total cost was 1,300 million euros.