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FILE - Haruyuki Takahashi, then executive board member of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games arrives at Tokyo 2020 Executive Board Meeting in Tokyo, Japan on March 30, 2020. Prosecutors searched the home of former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive board member Takahashi on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, in connection with payments made to him by an Olympic sponsor of the Tokyo Games, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported. (Issei Kato/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Report: Tokyo Olympic board member under investigation

Jul. 26, 2022 01:45 AM EDT

FILE - International Olympic Committee's President Thomas Bach and Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games make the sign of a heart with their hands during the closing ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. The Tokyo Olympics survived the COVID-19 postponement, soaring expenses and some public opposition. A year later, the costs and benefits are as difficult to untangle as the Games were to pull off. (Dan Mullen/Pool Photo via AP)
Tokyo Olympic aftermath still being untangled a year later

By Stephen Wade Jul. 21, 2022 01:16 AM EDT

FILE - A person walks near Tokyo 2020 logo in Haneda Airport on June 14, 2021, in Tokyo. Tokyo Olympic officials, meeting Tuesday, June 21, 2022, before the body is dissolved at the end of the month, were to detail the final numbers that were driven up by the pandemic, but were in record range even before that. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Tokyo closes books on delayed Games; $13 billion price tag

By Stephen Wade Jun. 21, 2022 03:08 AM EDT

Antti Pihlakoski, evaluation panel chairman of the World Athletics (WA), center left, and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, surrounded by other WA members, pose for a photo before their talk in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Council member Nawal El Moutawakel, back, from left, Vice President Ximena Restrepo and Director of Competitions & Events Jakob Larsen join the photo session. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Tokyo a candidate for track and field world championships

By Stephen Wade May. 25, 2022 12:44 AM EDT

FILE - In this July 8, 2021, file photo, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a news conference at his official residence in Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympics are going ahead despite opposition from many quarters inside Japan. The Japanese medical community is largely against it. (Nicolas Datiche/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Olympics, pandemic and politics: There's no separating them

By Stephen Wade Jul. 21, 2021 04:37 AM EDT

In this photo released by Japan Arts Council, Kiyokazu Kanze and other members of the Kanze School of the Japanese traditional theater of Noh perform on stage at the Kyoko Gaien National Garden near Imperial Palace, background, in Tokyo on March 14, 2021. The Japan Cultural Expo, a government-backed program set up especially to drum up tourism during the Tokyo Olympics, was planning similar events for the Games to highlight Japanese culture, but Tokyo Olympic organizers and the IOC on Saturday, March 20, 2021 announced a ban on fans from abroad attending the the games, which open on July 23. (Ken Kikaido/© Japan Arts Council via AP)
Japan spends millions on technology for absent Olympic fans

By Yuri Kageyama Mar. 23, 2021 02:49 AM EDT

A man and a woman stand with a backdrop of the Olympic rings floating in the water in the Odaiba section Thursday, March 18, 2021, in Tokyo. Tokyo Olympics creative director Hiroshi Sasaki is resigning after making demeaning comments about Naomi Watanabe, a well-known female celebrity. Sasaki who was in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics, told planning staff members last year that Watanabe could perform in the ceremony as an “Olympig.” (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Tokyo Olympics: Yet another scandal over sexist comments

By Stephen Wade And Yuri Kageyama Mar. 17, 2021 09:19 PM EDT

FILE - In this June 3, 2020, photo, the Olympic rings float in the water at sunset in the Odaiba section in Tokyo. The year of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has arrived. That would be 2021. Ever since the Olympics were postponed nine months ago, local organizers and the IOC have been biding their time. They’ve said we’ll have to wait until early in 2021 for details about how the Olympics can open on July 23 in the middle of a pandemic. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Welcome 2021: The year of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics

By Stephen Wade Dec. 29, 2020 10:48 PM EST

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2020, file photo, the Olympic rings for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 pass by on a barge by tugboats off the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo. Tokyo Olympic officials said Thursday, Dec. 24, they have reached a “basic agreement” with all 68 domestic sponsors to extend their contracts into next year to support the postponed Games. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
Tokyo Games: All 68 domestic sponsors agree to new contracts

By Stephen Wade Dec. 24, 2020 01:33 AM EST

Mansai Nomura, a well-known actor in traditional Japanese comedic theater, and also a film actor speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee appointed Hiroshi Sasaki, a former advertising executive with Japan's powerful public relations and advertising agency, on Wednesday as the head creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and Paralympics, replacing Nomura. (Kyodo News via AP)
Tokyo Olympics name Hiroshi Sasaki director for ceremonies

By Stephen Wade Dec. 23, 2020 12:48 AM EST

FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2020, file photo, the Olympic Symbol is reinstalled after it was taken down for maintenance ahead of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the Odaiba section, in Tokyo. The official cost of the postponed Tokyo Olympics has increased by 22%, the local organizing committee said Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, in unveiling its new budget. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Official costs of Tokyo Olympics up by 22% to $15.4 billion

By Stephen Wade Dec. 22, 2020 03:31 AM EST

FILE - In this April 28, 2013, file photo, a Boeing 787 plane of the All Nippon Airways, ANA, prepares to land after a test flight at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Domestic sponsors have already contributed a record of $3.3 billion to help pay for the Tokyo Olympics. That's at least twice as much as any previous Games. Now they're being asked to pay millions more to cover some of the soaring costs of the one-year postponement. Among the domestic sponsors is Japanese airline ANA, which posted losses of $1.8 billion through the first half of the fiscal year. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)
Tokyo Games sponsors pay $3.3 billion, but more still needed

By Yuri Kageyama And Stephen Wade Dec. 11, 2020 01:02 AM EST

IOC President Thomas Bach visits the National Stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games postponed until July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Bach said during this week's trip to Tokyo that he is “encouraging” all Olympic “participants” and fans to be vaccinated - if one becomes available - if they are going to attend next year's Tokyo Olympics. (Behrouz Mehri/Pool Photo via AP)
Tokyo Olympics: Q&A on vaccines, fans, qualifying and costs

By Stephen Wade Nov. 19, 2020 01:50 AM EST

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach arrives at a hotel in Tokyo Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020. IOC President Bach is beginning a visit to Tokyo to convince politicians and the Japanese public that the postponed Olympics will open in just over eight months.(Kyodo News via AP)
Bach comes to Tokyo as cheerleader for next year's Olympics

By Stephen Wade Nov. 14, 2020 09:46 PM EST

An anti-Olympic protester stands outside the Yoyogi National Stadium on in Tokyo on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. About 30 anti-Olympic protesters showed up Sunday outside the gymnastic event. They distributed leaflets and warned IOC President Thomas Bach in their handout that they would be around when he arrives "to deliver our message to cancel the Olympics.”(AP Photo/Stephen Wade)
Critics speak out on Tokyo Olympic costs, pandemic, fairness

By Yuri Kageyama, Stephen Wade And Koji Ueda Nov. 13, 2020 12:13 AM EST

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe wearing a protective face mask speaks to media as he inspects at the National Stadium, the main stadium of Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, in Tokyo Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (Issei Kato/Pool Photo via AP)
Coe supports athletes' right to take knee on Olympic podium

By Stephen Wade Oct. 07, 2020 11:39 PM EDT

In this March 30, 2020, file photo, a man jogs past the Olympic rings in Tokyo.It’s been six months since the Tokyo Olympics were postponed until next year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone from new Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to IOC President Thomas Bach have tried to assure the Japanese public and deep-pocketed sponsors that the Olympics will take place. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Tokyo Olympics Q&A: Should athletes be priority for vaccine?

By Stephen Wade Sep. 28, 2020 01:50 AM EDT

RETRANSMISSION TO CORRECT DATE - In this photo made from UNTV video, Suga Yoshihide, Prime Minister of Japan, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, at UN Headquarters. (UNTV Via AP )
Japan's new prime minister vows to host Olympics next year

Sep. 25, 2020 07:14 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 4, 2019, file photo, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, right, is presented with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President's trophy by AOC president John Coates at the AOC annual general meeting in Sydney, Australia. The only thing more difficult than staging next year's Tokyo Olympics in a pandemic might be convincing sponsors to keep their billions on board in the midst of economic turbulence and skepticism. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
Tokyo needs to convince sponsors Olympics will really happen

By Stephen Wade Sep. 22, 2020 01:41 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 4, 2020, file photo, people wearing masks walk past the Olympic rings near the New National Stadium in Tokyo. Local Japanese sponsors have chipped in a record $3.3 billion to organize the postponed Tokyo Olympics. That's almost 60% of the income for the privately funded operating budget. With the games delayed for a year, sponsors will be asked to sign up again. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Tokyo Olympics must firm up $3.3 billion in sponsor income

By Stephen Wade Jun. 25, 2020 02:46 AM EDT