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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 - Athletes arrive for 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. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
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 June 17, 2021, file photo, President of the Japan Community Health Care Organization Shigeru Omi attends a joint news conference with Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Japan's response to the coronavirus outbreak at Suga's 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. Omi has said it’s “abnormal” to hold the Olympics during a pandemic. (Issei Kato/Pool Photo via AP)
Olympics, pandemic and politics: There's no separating them

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

FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2021, file photo, a child wearing a protective mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus runs in front of the logos of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. 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. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Japan spends millions on technology for absent Olympic fans

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

Tokyo Olympics creative director Hiroshi Sasaki, a former advertising executive with Japan's powerful public relations and advertising agency Dentsu, Inc., attends a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 23, 2020. Sasaki is resigning Wednesday, March 17, 2021, after making demeaning comments about a well-known female celebrity. It is yet another setback for the postponed games and another involving comments about women. The Olympics are to open in just over four months, dogged by the pandemic, record costs, and numerous scandals. (Kyodo News via AP)
Tokyo Olympics: Yet another scandal over sexist comments

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

FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2020, file photo, the Olympic Symbol is transported on a barge 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

Hiroshi Sasaki, a former advertising executive with Japan's powerful public relations and advertising agency Dentsu, Inc., speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee appointed Sasaki on Wednesday as the head creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and Paralympics. (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

The headquarters of Japanese advertising company Dentsu Inc. is seen in Tokyo on June 5, 2020. 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. Dentsu helped land the Olympics, lined up the sponsors, and stands to profit with the Olympics opening on July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
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 speaks to media during a visit to 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

Kohei Uchimura of Japan competes in the pommel horse during an international gymnastics meet in Tokyo on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. Three-time Olympic gold-medal gymnast Uchimura wants the postponed Tokyo Olympics to happen in just under nine months. But he's also talked openly about the skepticism in Japan where enthusiasm is muted by health risks, billions of dollars in taxpayer bills, and questions why the Games are a priority amid a pandemic. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Critics speak out on Tokyo Olympic costs, pandemic, fairness

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

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

FILE - Ibn this March 30, 2020, file photo, Haruyuki Takahashi, executive board member of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games arrives at Tokyo 2020 Executive Board Meeting in Tokyo, Japan. Takahashi says another delay should be sought if the games can't be held next year. The Tokyo Olympics were to be held this year but were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Issei Kato/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Tokyo Olympic board member would support another delay

By Stephen Wade Jun. 16, 2020 02:42 AM EDT

A man takes pictures of a countdown display for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Tokyo. The countdown clock is ticking again for the Tokyo Olympics. They will be July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021. The clock read 479 days to go. This seems light years away, but also small and insignificant compared to the worldwide fallout from the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
The countdown clock is clicking again for the Tokyo Olympics

By Stephen Wade Mar. 31, 2020 12:27 AM EDT