Alternative History


The 2020 Summer Olympics (2020にせんにじゅうねん夏季かきオリンピック Nisen Nijū-nen Kaki Orinpikku), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad (だい三十一さんじゅういちかいオリンピック競技きょうぎ大会たいかい Dai Sanjūichi-kai Orinpikku Kyōgi Taikai) and branded as Tokyo 2020 (東京とうきょう20にいゼロ20にいゼロ Tōkyō Nii Zero Nii Zero), was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan, from 23 July to 8 August 2020, with preliminary events held in 21 July. Tokyo was announced as the host city during the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 2 October 2013.

This is the fourth time Japan has hosted the Olympic games, following Tokyo 1964 (summer), Sapporo 1940 (winter), and Nagano 1994 (winter). This would also be Tokyo's second time hosting the summer Olympics, and the second country in Asia to host the Olympics twice, tied with Beijing, China. The 2020 games were also the second of the three consecutive Olympics held in East Asia, following the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongyang, Korea, and preceding the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

The games mark as Scotland's and Nauvoo's first appearance at the Summer Olympics since Scottish athletes participated under the team of Independent Olympic Athletes in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Refugee Olympic Team's (EOT) second appearance at the Olympics, with their first appearance also at the 2016 Summer Olympics. However, these Olympics mark as the last Olympics for the Free State of Kenya due to them becoming the Democratic Republic of Kenya as of 2021, and they'll participate under their new name in the next Olympics that'll be held in Paris, France, in 2024. The Independent African Athletes, made up of athletes from Swartist countries, would also participate for the last time in Olympic history since their debut in 1996. This is because the IOC called to permanently ban athletes from Swartist nations on 2022 because of their involvement in the ongoing Great African War.

The United States finished top in the medal system, with the most gold medals and total medals. China then came second. Japan came third, which marked their best ever Olympics. The United Kingdom came fourth and Russia came fifth.

Bidding process[]

2020 Summer Olympics host city selection
City Team Round 1 Run-off Round 2
Tokyo Japan flag Differently Japan 42 - 60
Constantinople Rhomania flag Differently Rhomania 26 49 36
Madrid Spain flag Differently Spain 26 45 -


Development and preparation[]

Venues and infrastructure[]

Japan National Stadium

The Japan National Stadium in Tokyo was the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies and athletics events.

In February 2012, it was announced that the Japan National Stadium would undergo a ¥200 billion renovation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympics. Zada Hadid Architects has won the bid of designing the stadium, turning it into a new 70,000 all-seater stadium, with the help of Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma.

There are 33 competitive venues, 28 of them which are less than 5 miles (11 kilometers) from the stadium. On November 2019, the IOC decided to reschedule the marathon to Sapporo due to heat problems. Tokyo's governor, Yuriko Koike, accepted the decision, despite her belief that all events should be within the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Security[]

The Japanese government has chosen to ban all drones from flying over the Olympic and Paralympic venues. A similar ban was also included in the 2019 Rugby World Cup, also hosted in Japan.

Volunteers[]

The volunteer applications were opened in 8 September 2018. By 2019, over 203,129 applications were received from the Tokyo Organizing Committee. In February 2019, interviews began by a chosen number of volunteers and training began on October 2019. The volunteers at the venues were known as "Field Cast" whereas those working at the city were known as "City Cast". There were a total of around 80,000 volunteers at the Games.

Medals[]

In 2017, the Tokyo Organizing Committee partnered with the Japan Environmental Sanitation Center and Docomo to do an electronics recycling program so they could create medals out of recycled phones and other electronic materials from donations. Later that year, a design competition was launched.

Tokyo 2020 Medals

The designs of the medals for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

On 23 July 2019, one year before the games, the medal designs were unveiled for the Olympics and Paralympics. The medal designs were made by Junichi Kawanishi.

Torch relay[]

The slogan for the 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay is "The Light Starts to Shine".

Tokyo 2020 Torch relay checkpoint

The Olympic flame is lit on a checkpoint cauldron.

The torch relay started from Rhomania in 12 March 2019, with the flame lighting ceremony at the Temple of Hera in Olympia. The torch then traveled to Athens, where the relay ended in the Panathenaic Stadium, the stadium that hosted the 1896 games. The flame was put inside a lantern and it traveled from the Athens International Airport to the Tokyo International Airport. The relay then started again in 20 March, as it explored areas that have been affected by the 2013 Hokkaido earthquake. After the exploration, it went on its way to travel around Japan, as it explored most of it, leaving Tokyo as the last city to explore. Each city had a checkpoint, where the flame is lit on a cauldron and stays there for a few days beforesomeone else takes it as the relay continues.

On 30 April 2019, the torch was transferred to Tokyo, and was stayed there safely until 2020.

On 21 July 2020, the torch relay began again, this time visiting the venues of the Games. The torch relay then ended in 23 July after Naomi Osaka used it to light up the cauldron during the finale for the opening ceremony. The cauldron lit in the stadium was only used in the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Games[]

Opening ceremony[]

Lady Gaga at Tokyo 2020 (Differently)

Lady Gaga singing during the opening ceremony of Tokyo 2020

The opening ceremony was held on 23 July 2020 in the Japan International Stadium in Tokyo. The opening ceremony included many things related to Japanese culture, such as kabuki and video games/anime references. The opening ceremony also included some artists like American singer Lady Gaga and Japanese band, The Gazette. The cermony also included the traditional Parade of Nations, and marked the Republic of Scotland's first ever appearance at the Games. The emperor of Japan, Akihito, declared the opening of the 2020 Summer Olympics and the cauldron was lit by Naomi Osaka, marking the end of the Olympic torch relay.

For the first time in Olympic history, the flag bearers were both male and female to represent equality between both genders.

Sports[]

The Games include six new events: 3x3 basketball, BMX, skateboarding, surfing, sports climbing, and karate, and brought back softbal, baseball, and dodgeball to become new sports. Squash was one of the sports that were going to be in the Olympics. However, the IOC refused it. Sumo was also denied from being a sport at the games.

Here are all the events and sports that are in the 2020 Summer Olympics:

2020 Summer Olympics Sports Programme
  • Aquatics
    • Artistic swimming (2)
    • Diving (8)
    • Marathon swimming (2)
    • Swimming (35)
    • Water Polo (2)
  • Archery (5)
  • Athletics (48)
  • Badminton (5)
  • Baseball
    • Baseball (2)
    • Softball (2)
  • Basketball
    • Basketball (2)
    • 3x3 (2)
  • Boxing (13)
  • Canoeing
    • Slalom (4)
    • Sprint (12)
  • Cycling
    • BMX freestyle (2)
    • BMX racing (2)
    • Mountain biking (2)
    • Road cycling (4)
    • Track cycling (12)
  • Dodgeball (2)
  • Equestrian
    • Dressage (2)
    • Eventing (2)
    • Jumping (2)
  • Fencing (12)
  • Field Hockey (2)
  • Football (2)
  • Golf (2)
  • Gymnastics
    • Artistic (12)
    • Rhythmic (2)
    • Tramploine (2)
  • Handball (2)
  • Judo (15)
  • Karate
    • Kata (2)
    • Kumite (6)
  • Modern pentathlon (2)
  • Rowing (14)
  • Rugby sevens (2)
  • Sailing (10)
  • Shooting (15)
  • Skateboarding (4)
  • Sport climbing (2)
  • Surfing (2)
  • Table tennis (5)
  • Taekwondo (8)
  • Tennis (5)
  • Triathlon (3)
  • Volleyball
    • Volleyball (2)
    • Beach volleyball (2)
  • Weightlifting (14)
  • Wrestling
    • Freestyle (12)
    • Byzantine-Roman (6)

Participating national Olympic committees[]

A total of 11,656 athletes from 154 national Olympic committees took part in the Olympics, making it the largest multi-sport event to be ever held in Japan, surpassing the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.

The Republic of Scotland (SCO) participated for the first time in the Summer Olympics, since they have previously participated under the team of Independent Olympic Athletes in 2016. Their first appearance were in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongyang, which also marked their first ever appearance at the Olympic Games.

Ever since their Olympic committee became recognized in late 2018, the Holy Mormon City of Nauvoo (NVO) also participated for the first time in Olympic history.

The Republic of Kiribati (KBT) failed to qualify for the Olympics, thus marking these as the second time in a row they did not participate in the Games.

Ever since the creation of the Swartist Brotherhood in the 1980s, countries part of it have been banned from every Olympics since until they participated in 1996 under a neutral Olympic team called Independent African Atheltes. Ever since then, they participated under this team, but these Olympics marked the last time they participated due to a policy made by the IOC to permanently ban Swartist athletes from all sporting events on 2022.

The Free State of Kenya (KEN) has participated for the last time in Olympic history after the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Kenya as of 2021.

The following teams qualified:

Participating National Olympic Committees

Medal summary[]

2020 Summer Olympics medal table
Rank Team Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States flag Differently United States 36 32 37 105
2 China flag Differently China 30 21 30 81
3 Japan flag Differently Japan (hosts) 26 11 17 54
4 United Kingdom flag Differently United Kingdom 25 19 17 61
5 Russia flag Differently Russia 20 26 27 73
6 Netherlands flag Differently Netherlands 12 16 10 38
7 France flag Differently France 11 13 8 32
8 Germany flag Differently Germany 10 14 11 35
9 Italy flag Differently Italy 10 12 17 39
10 Confederate States flag Differently Confederate States 9 19 5 33


Medal ceremonies[]

The medal ceremony music was composed by Naoki Satō. He chose to not make the music to look more like Japanese culture because the Olympics are for athletes around the world. After the national anthem from the gold medalist ended, the song Overture from the play Carmen starts to play as the athletes exit the podium with their medals.

The bouquets given to the athletes were grown in areas affected by the 2013 Hokkaido earthquake. The sunflowers were grown by families who have lost a relative due to the disaster and eustomas were provided to boost up the local economy in Hakodate. Blue gentianas were then grown on Tokyo to complete the bouquet.

Marketing[]

The official emblem for the games were unveiled during the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as characters like Mario and others related to video games and anime appeared together with it. It was designed by Asao Tokolo, who won the nationwide contest. The emblem resebled a checkered pattern forming a circle. It also resembles a pattern called ichimatsu moyo that was commonly used in the Edo era of Japan.

2020 Summer Olympics mascots (Differently)

Miraitowa (left), the official mascot for the 2020 Summer Olympics, and Someity (right), the official mascot for the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

The official mascot for the 2020 Summer Olympics is Miraitowa, a superhero character with ichimatsu moyo patterns on its forehead. Its fictional characteristics include the ability to teleport. Created by Japanese artist Ryo Taniguchi, the mascot was chosen in a contest that took place from May 2016 to April 2017, where three mascot designs were chosen between elementary school children. The other mascot, Someity, was made for the 2020 Paralympic Games. The mascots were expected to help finance the games by merchandising and licensing deals.

Broadcasting[]

Sony and Panasonic partnered with NHK, a Japanese government owned channel, to broadcast the games in 8K in televisions all around Japan. Docomo and Italian broadcaster RAI also partnered up to broadcast the games on 8K TV.

NBCUniversal was then awarded the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games around the United States and Confederate States, as part of a $4 billion agreement during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as well as producing a movie for the Olympics, in which the rights were handed out to Dreamworks. According to NBCUniversal, this could be the most profitable Olympic Games in NBC history.

The rights were also handed out throughout Europe on Eurosport, marking it the first ever Summer Olympics to be broadcasted in Eurosport. Every country in Europe, except Russia has Eurosport as the official broadcaster for the Olympics. These Olympics would also be BBC's final one.

In Canada and Quebec, they were broadcasted in CBC, Sportsnet, TSN and TLN. In the Australian continent, they were aired by Seven Network, and in Brazil, they were aired by SporTV, a subsidary of Rede Globo.