Features

Tokyo 2020 National Stadium ’40%’ complete

The Japan Sport Council has provided an update on construction work on venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the city’s showpiece National Stadium now 40 per cent complete.

The National Stadium, which TheStadiumBusiness.com recently profiled, will have a capacity of 60,000 and remains on track to be completed by November 2019. The venue will host the opening and closing ceremonies, along with athletics events.

The Japan Sport Council, which owns the stadium, has revealed that 2,000 people are currently working on the stadium on an average day, but that figure will increase to 3,000 as the construction process accelerates.

One of the main features of the stadium is its roof, work on which is currently the main priority. “The most challenging part from now is installing the roof,” the JSC’s Tadashi Mochizuki said, according to the Associated Press news agency.

“Of the whole 15 months of the work period for the roof, we still have nine more months to go. We are installing the roof, divided as four parts. We have to install the parts without an inch of mistake.”

The AP reported that the Olympic Village is also 40 per cent complete, with the site due to be ready by December 2019. The 15,000-seat Olympic Aquatics Center is scheduled to be ready by February 2020 and the Sea Forest Waterway – the site for canoe spring and rowing events – will be completed by late 2019. The AP noted that the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, which will stage badminton and fencing events, is so far the only completed venue for Tokyo 2020.

Image: Andrew Mager