The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, postponed for one year due to the epidemic, will come to a successful conclusion on August 8, which is also China's National Fitness Day - on August 8, 2008, the 29th Olympic Games were unveiled in Beijing, and China embraced the Olympic event for the first time. Next February, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be held again.
Under the background of the normalization of global epidemic prevention, the Tokyo Olympic Games have become the most special Olympic Games in history. How to hold a safe and secure Olympic event? How can the health of athletes and Olympic participants around the world be safeguarded? How to pass the baton of the Tokyo Olympics and the Beijing Winter Olympics?
In the Office of the President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee Headquarters, a special correspondent from Liberation Daily and Shangguan Shimbun conducted an exclusive interview with Ms. Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. "I am confident that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be a very successful event," she said. I will participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics in my capacity as Chairman of the Tokyo Organising Committee. I'm very happy about that! ”
He was appointed president in danger, and his Olympic fate was innate
Liberation Daily: Hello Chairman Hashimoto Seiko. The Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" is now joined by "More Unity". Did the Tokyo Olympics bring together the world's best participants on a mission to bring the world together?
Seiko Hashimoto: At the end of the Tokyo Olympics, I can always feel the atmosphere of unity for the Olympic games. Although the epidemic in Japan is not over, I am happy that athletes from all over the world and members of the Olympic family have always been united.
Photo: The special correspondent of the Liberation Daily Tokyo Olympic Games presented a souvenir of the newspaper's culture to Hashimoto Seiko.
Liberation Daily: Affected by the epidemic, 95% of the venues of the Tokyo Olympic Games did not have live spectators, which is the first Olympic Games in Olympic history to have almost no live audiences. Do you have some regrets?
Seiko Hashimoto: To hold a safe and secure Olympic event, we always put the health of athletes and coaches around the world and the health of all Olympic participants first.
Liberation Daily: The Olympic Games have no audience, which also means losing box office revenue, why did the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee finally make this choice?
Hashimoto Seiko: Since there was no live audience, the conference had almost no box office revenue, and it is true that this has a very big impact on the budget. But if there is an audience, it will cause health problems and thus cause national unrest, so we make the decision not to have an audience.
Liberation Daily: IOC President Bach has said that the Olympic flame is the light at the end of the tunnel, but protecting the health of all personnel is the first principle. You are a staunch supporter of the Tokyo Olympics and have said that you will do whatever it takes to host the Games. Does this have anything to do with your upbringing as a world-class athlete? In Chinese, the saint in your name means "Olympic flame", is this also the case in Japanese?
Hashimoto: 57 years ago, when the flame that opened at the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics was lit, it was the moment I was born. At that time, my father saw the Olympic flame lit, so he named me the Son and hoped that I would become an Olympian in the future. Indeed, I became an Olympian and now serve the Tokyo Organising Committee as President of the Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, which may be my fate with the Olympics.
Liberation Daily: The epidemic prevention and control of the Tokyo Olympics is also a fierce competition, how do you think about this battle?
Hashimoto Seiko: Yes, during the Tokyo Olympic Games, the epidemic in Tokyo has a rising trend, but this is a conference without spectators, and it is necessary for experts to make scientific judgments on the relationship between the changes in the epidemic situation in Tokyo and the hosting of the Olympic Games. But so far, no cases of infection have been found in the Olympic venues.
There is no experience in running the epidemic, and a blank piece of paper redraws the blueprint
Liberation Daily: After you were appointed President of the Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, IOC President Bach issued a statement congratulating you and praising you as the "perfect candidate." As a leader, do you feel you have enough time? 24 hours a day, do you have a few hours off?
Seiko Hashimoto: On February 18, I was officially inaugurated as Chairman of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, and before that I was The Olympic Minister in the Japanese Cabinet. As Olympic Minister, it is relatively macro to understand and support the work of the Japanese Olympic Organizing Committee; now as the chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, my work has only been half a year, but I have done a more practical job. The Tokyo Organising Committee has about 8,000 staff members, and my requirement for them is to do my best to make a safe and secure congress.
Of course, the ultimate responsibility is myself, and all the decisions I have made are the result of the hard work of these 8,000 staff members, and I thank them. As for me, although I rotate 24 hours a day, I don't feel tired. In order to stay physical and healthy, I have to take a certain amount of time every day to exercise.
In the meantime, the rest of the brain is very important. Brain fatigue affects physical fatigue, and 90% of the reports I receive every day are tricky problems. However, I see these as normal things, and my mentality is relieved. As with the Olympics, the strength of the group and the team is important, so our staff is really hard.
Liberation Daily: From your appointment to the end of the Olympic Games, you served as chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee for only about half a year, and your time was not very sufficient. There is a saying in China called "being ordained in danger", what made you decide to take on the burden at that time? What was the happiest moment in your heart at the Tokyo Olympics?
Seiko Hashimoto: When I took over the presidency of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, everyone around me thought the situation was too serious and expressed their concern. The fate of my birth at the time of the ignition of the flame at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, coupled with my previous career as an Olympic athlete, developed a character that would never give in to difficulties. Overcoming all kinds of difficulties and allowing me to grow on my own is also my own choice of life path.
Pictured: Hashimoto Wrote "Gratitude every day" for the readers of Liberation Daily.
Under very difficult circumstances at the Tokyo Olympics, it would be a terrible thing if I did not accept the job of Chairman of the Tokyo Organising Committee. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was postponed for a year, which is unprecedented in the history of the Olympic Games, and the Olympics have only been interrupted twice by war. How to host the Olympic Games under the epidemic? Precisely because there is no experience to refer to in each country, it allows us to start with a blank piece of paper and re-draw.
When I was The Olympic Minister, I only played a role to support the work of the organizing committee, and now I am a concrete worker, which makes my job easier now, because I was an athlete who has experienced the Olympic Games several times. The Chairman of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee is a relatively direct and concrete task, because there is a realistic stage for the Olympic Games. Being able to have direct contact with athletes, sports media people, sports supporters on this stage, especially seeing athletes around the world cheering for new achievements, is the most joyful and happy moment of my life.
The lessons of the Tokyo Olympics can be used as a reference for the Beijing Olympics
Liberation Daily: You were a speed skater and cyclist who competed in both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics, and are the Japanese female athlete who has participated the most in the Olympic Games. The athlete's sense of experience is an important part of the success of an Olympic Games. Are you constantly following how athletes feel about the Tokyo Olympics?
Hashimoto Seiko: I am deeply grateful for the postponement of the Olympic Games for one year, the various preparations made by athletes around the world in a state of confusion and uneasiness, and finally resolutely participated in the Tokyo Olympic Games in an uncertain state of possible suspension of the games, and I am deeply sorry for the athletes who could not come to the Games due to the one-year postponement. This is a special Olympic Games, because of the postponement, resulting in the departure of athletes and new entrants, which may also be the charm of the Olympic Games. Sports is strength plus luck, there will be no winners without losers, and the quadrennial Olympic Games provide a stage for these athletes to improve themselves and open up the future.
Liberation Daily: Even if there are almost no spectators, what innovations and efforts has the Japanese Olympic Organizing Committee made in abiding by epidemic prevention regulations and strengthening epidemic prevention work? This has also set an excellent example for Asian countries such as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Half a year later, Beijing, China will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, what explorations and experiences of the Tokyo Olympic Games are worth learning from the Beijing Winter Olympics?
Hashimoto Seiko: How successful the Tokyo Olympics really was, we will summarize it until the end of the games. This conference is characterized by the fact that there is no audience in the epidemic, which is the first time in the history of the Olympic Games. What happened at this conference will help the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to refer to it. For example, from now until February next year, if vaccination is stepped up at home and abroad, the world will therefore have a big change, which will make the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics a successful environment. The successful experience and failure lessons of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be summarized after the meeting, and will be provided to the Beijing Winter Olympics for reference.
Jiefang Daily: Jiefang Daily is the largest newspaper in Shanghai, Chairman Hashimoto, what are your impressions of Shanghai?
Seiko Hashimoto: I have been to China several times because of the World Cup and the Asian Games. Although I have only made a short stay in Shanghai, I was impressed by Shanghai, which is a city full of courage and vitality. As one of the few countries that hosts both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics, I believe that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be a very successful conference. After the tokyo olympic games, our Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee will continue to operate, and I will participate in next year's Beijing Winter Olympic Games in my capacity as chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee. I am extremely happy about this, and I sincerely wish the Beijing Winter Olympics a successful event"
(The special correspondent of Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News sent from Tokyo, Japanese Chinese Wu Jizu teacher, has made important contributions to this article)
Column Editor-in-Chief: Chen Hua Text Editor: Chen Hua Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency
Source: Author: Chen Hua Yao Qinyi