Helping out
As of December 2022, around 10,000 of the volunteers who had lent their services at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games had registered for the Tokyo Volunteer Legacy Network, which provides a framework for supporting future volunteer efforts in the Japanese capital.
The network, which went live in November 2021, offers information to volunteers about sporting events, such as the 2025 World Athletics Championships and Para sports events, and cultural events, and gives them the opportunity to attend them.
The network reflects the desire of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) to nurture a volunteering culture in the city and a more inclusive society in which people support each other. The goal is for more than 40 per cent of Tokyo residents to be engaging in volunteer activities by 2030.
A TMG survey conducted a month after the Olympic Games revealed that 96 per cent of Tokyo 2020 volunteers would like to be involved in future volunteering activities.
In total, 70,970 of volunteers took part at Tokyo 2020 as “Field Cast”, ranging in age from 19 to 91. Due to restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 110 of them were from overseas, gaining entry to Japan on the basis of their sporting expertise.
Olympic Games delivery depends to a large extent on volunteers, who have contributed to their success since London 1948, when the volunteering tradition began in earnest.