Opinion | Wednesday, 5th August 2020
The Olympic Games: Cancel or further delay Tokyo 2020? No, its intangible benefits are too important
Dr Yuhei Inoue explains the valuable social impacts of the event
by Dr Yuhei Inoue, Reader in Sport Management
This past July marked the one-year countdown to the Tokyo 2020 Games, which have been postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The games’ organising committee has released a video featuring Rikako Ikee, a famous Japanese swimmer who is battling leukaemia, to celebrate the countdown and promote interest in, and support for, the rescheduled sporting extravaganza.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a message reassuring the public that the government is determined to successfully host Tokyo 2020 next summer by developing the necessary infrastructure to minimise the impacts of the pandemic.
Despite these public relations efforts, a recent national poll reveals that less than 25 per cent of the Japan residents surveyed were in support of holding the Games in 2021.
More strikingly, more than one-third of respondents indicated their support for the complete cancellation of the event.
These figures seem to suggest that a large proportion of residents no longer see that hosting the Tokyo 2020 Games - once projected to bring an economic boost of 32 trillion yen (£235 billion) to the host nation by 2030 - is a worthwhile investment.
Indeed, findings from academic research consistently show that even without a global crisis like the coronavirus outbreak, costs of hosting international sports events, such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup - often outweigh their economic impacts, resulting in net losses for host cities and countries.
But does the lack of evidence for economic impacts mean that there is no other way to justify community investments in those events?
Actually, I believe in an alternative ‘social impact’ rationale for hosting the games.
Social impacts
Social impacts comprise a range of intangible benefits accruing to local residents as a result of their community hosting an event such as a tournament, championship or race.
The most prominent type of such benefits is an increase in subjective wellbeing, or more generally, happiness.
There is an increasing body of evidence indicating that feelings of excitement created by holding international sports events can make local residents happier.
This type of benefit, which is sometimes referred to as ‘psychic income’ or ‘the feel-good factor’, is significant given the recent movement to use happiness as a central outcome to evaluate the efficacy of governmental policies.
Research also demonstrates that higher incomes can make only a marginal contribution to happiness, thus highlighting the importance of other policy interventions, such as hosting international sports events, to maximise it.
Beyond happiness, two other types of intangible benefits are noteworthy.
Inspired to be active
The first is the promotion of active sport participation through inspiration from sporting excellence demonstrated by elite athletes.
A 2015 review of research did not find conclusive evidence for this so-called ‘demonstration effect’.
However, a study my colleagues and I published in 2018 shows that international sports events can have a long-term impact on active sport participation particularly for local children and adolescents.
Analysing 20 years’ worth of data from national surveys in Japan, we found that, compared to other generations, the so-called Tokyo Olympic cohort - namely, a group of Japanese citizens who were aged between 10 and 19 years when the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games took place - reported consistently higher rates of sport participation between 1994 and 2014 and this effect sustained even when individuals in the cohort were in their 60s.
This finding led us to conclude that the shared experience of hosting an international sports event in their youth can inspire local residents to be physically active in later life.
Diversity and inclusion
The second intangible benefit is the promotion of diversity and inclusion.
International sports events provide local residents with the opportunity to watch and appreciate the abilities of athletes who vary in nationality, ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, and many other personal attributes and background.
It has also become increasingly common to incorporate programmes aiming to promote diversity and inclusion into the operations of international sports events, such as accessible and inclusive service delivery for spectators and the implementation of outreach programmes targeting disadvantaged local residents.
Moreover, supporting the success of event hosting can foster a sense of shared identity among residents who may otherwise belong to different groups and communities, which can contribute to the creation of new collaborations and networks that will enable future community development.
What about the 2020 Games?
So, how may the social impacts of sports events - the promotion of happiness, active sport participation, and diversity and inclusion - justify the eventual hosting of the Tokyo 2020 Games?
- Happiness: in the latest World Happiness Report (WHR), Tokyo was ranked 79th for resident happiness out of the 186 global cities rated. This is the lowest among the other top 5 global cities according to the 2019 Global Power City Index — global city rankings that placed Tokyo as fourth based on its competitiveness: London (36th in the WHR), New York (30th), Paris (34th), and Singapore (49th)
- Sport participation: according to national survey data, the percentage of Japanese aged 12 to 21 years who did not participate in any sport or exercise during the previous year increased from 15.3 per cent in 2015 to 21.7 per cent in 2019. As discussed above, this age cohort is likely to be inspired from the demonstration effect of elite sporting performance based on our prior research findings
- Diversity and inclusion: based on the 2020 Global Gender Gap report, Japan was 121st for gender equality out of the 153 countries included in the rankings, making it the worst-performing nation among its G7 peers. In addition, a survey conducted by the Japanese government in 2016 revealed that roughly 30 per cent of foreigners lviing in the country experienced discriminatory remarks due to their background
Assuming that Japan is able to have the coronavirus under control well enough by next summer to hold the Tokyo 2020 Games safely with at least some limited venue capacity to allow crowds in, then hosting the event could help the country and its residents address some of the most important issues facing them now and in the near future.
Of course, the games will not be an ultimate solution to all of these issues.
However, they can serve as a promising starting point wherein residents take advantage of the momentum created by event hosting to develop innovative ways to realise a happier, healthier, and more inclusive society in the coming years.
