TOKYO – The 2021 pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics cost 20 per cent more than the final figure reported by the organising committee, according to an analysis by Japan’s audit board.

A report issued late on Wednesday found the Games cost 1.7 trillion yen (S$17.4 billion), up from the 1.42 trillion yen reported by Tokyo 2020 earlier in 2022.

The audit board said organisers had incorrectly failed to include some Olympic-linked government spending on items including anti-doping measures, athlete training, Japanese food at the athletes village and the Olympic Stadium.

And its report urged the government in the future to “reveal the total costs in a timely manner when it is substantially involved in a major event”.

“Despite the fact that taxpayer money may have been needed to cover shortfalls, the total amount of government spending remains unknown,” an audit board official said on Wednesday, criticising the government. 

According to the Japan Times, the board also calculated that the government spent 1.3 trillion yen on “329 projects that contributed to the Games, such as immigration checks and improving the accuracy of weather forecasts”.

The addition of this figure would then result in the total cost to be around four trillion yen.

The 2013 bid for the Tokyo Games estimated the event would cost just 734 billion yen, but costs gradually ballooned, with a pandemic postponement adding to the bill.

Asked on Thursday, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that “the government takes the points raised seriously and will respond appropriately”, without offering details.

The Games were held a year later than planned because of the pandemic – the first Olympics that was postponed in peacetime – and spectators were banned from nearly all events, which were held under strict Covid-19 countermeasures.

Japanese prosecutors are investigating a string of bid-rigging allegations associated with sponsorship deals at the Tokyo Games.

On Thursday, a former executive of a major clothing company appeared in court on allegations of bribing a Tokyo 2020 official and admitted offering money to secure sponsorship rights for his firm, national broadcaster NHK said.

The corruption scandal has also cast a shadow over Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Officials there this week announced they would stop holding promotional events for the bid and now hold a nationwide poll to gauge support.

Sapporo had been seen as the front runner to host the Winter Games for a second time, ahead of rivals Salt Lake City and Vancouver.

But the corruption scandal has soured the bid. AFP