Tokyo 2020 Olympics moves marathon to Sapporo as IOC issues royal decree, sparking outrage in host city

Nothing signifies the end of an Olympic Games like the marathon. Held on the final Sunday of the Games, this marquee event is always the last one on the athletic calendar. Starting at the main stadium and ending up back there 42 kilometres later, the race through the streets offers global viewers a look back on the host city of the past 17 days one last time.

In Japan, a country with a deep and passionate running culture, the marathon is spoken of in reverential tones. More than 320,000 runners applied for 35,000 spots in the 2017 Tokyo Marathon and Japan has more women’s Olympic marathon gold medals than any other country. In 2018, Yuki Kawauchi halted the East African dominance of the Boston Marathon and became the first Japanese man to win the race in 31 years.

As demand for Olympic tickets wildly exceeds availability, the urban marathon route is the one live event all Tokyoites can actually enjoy. And while most will still be able to watch the event live, now they will have to fly up north to Sapporo to do it.

In a development that absolutely stunned the country last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that they have unilaterally decided the marathon and race walk events at next summer’s Games will be moved from sweltering Tokyo to the much more moderate climes of Sapporo on Hokkaido island.

This was certainly news to local organisers and civic officials. But according to the IOC, watching the women’s marathon at the recent World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar sealed the fate when 28 of the 68 runners withdrew because of the brutal heat despite a midnight start.

“The IOC was shocked by what we saw in Doha in very similar conditions, in terms of heat and humidity, to what’s expected in Tokyo,” said John Coates, chairman of the IOC’s coordination commission.