We Are Tomodachi Winter 2016

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25dance. “At the closing ceremony in Rio we expressed the image of a changing Japan,” Murofushi comments enthusiastically. “We want people around the world to see the new Japan at the Tokyo Games in 2020.”During his 26-year career as an athlete, Murofushi saw firsthand how foreign athletes praised the high level of organizational competence at international tournaments held in Japan. “The Olympics and Paralympics are a special stage for athletes,” he says, “a sports festival that takes place just once every four years. Smooth and attentive management of the events is the most important factor in terms of enabling the athletes to concentrate on their sports with a sense of security and achieve results. The Japanese are good at smooth and reliable management, so I firmly believe that the Tokyo Games in 2020 will be ‘athlete-first’ games—in other words, games where athletes can compete with a solid sense of security.”From his standpoint as an Olympian, Murofushi also speaks of his new hopes relating to spectator experiences in the broad sense, including broadcasting. “At the venues,” he says, “there are various experiences that can’t be fully conveyed by broadcasting—sounds, for example.” In hammer throwing, there’s the sound of the wire as it cuts through the air. In goalball, a Paralympic event, there’s the sound of bells tinkling quietly at the venue. Murofushi hopes that means will be found by the time of the Tokyo Games in 2020 to convey the world being experienced by athletes to spectators even more realistically. “We can make use of the latest technology, like virtual reality,” he says. “And from the perspective of sports presentation, I want spectators at the venues to be able to have experiences of a sort that they have never had before.” The Tokyo Organizing Committee aims to provide the very best stage for all participants. Japan is moving steadily forward toward hosting a sophisticated sports festival in four years’ time that will truly befit the “made-in-Japan” label. The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Gameshttps://tokyo2020.jp/en3. At the Tokyo 2020 presentation performance held during the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics, the words “See You in Tokyo” were firmly imprinted in the minds of people around the world. 4. Around 800,000 people lined the streets to watch the homecoming parade of athletes who won medals in Rio, held in Tokyo on October 7, 2016. Tokyo is already warming up to host the Games in 2020. 5. Japan also made a presentation at the closing ceremony of the Rio Paralympics. Through these two presentations, a message was transmitted to the world that the stereotyped image of Japan is a thing of the past and “Japan is changing.”345Koji MurofushiSports director, Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Hammer-throw gold medalist at the Athens (2004) and bronze medalist at the London (2012) Olympic Games.

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