Tokyo 2020 Venues: Tokyo International Forum (Olympic Weightlifting & Paralympic Powerlifting)
From the outside, the International Forum doesn’t necessarily grab your attention like some of the other Tokyo 2020 venues. It can look somewhat inconspicuous with all the surrounding tall buildings and with the imperial palace being relatively close, means it is far from the main attraction of the area. The Tokyo International Forum is right in the middle of Tokyo and will serve as a venue hosting two incredibly popular events at both the Paralympic and Olympic Games. Let’s take a look at the events, the venue, the location and transportation options.
Events
Tokyo 2020 will utilize this rather impressive facility to host two premier events at the upcoming Summer Olympics. These events will be powerlifting at the Paralympics and the weightlifting event at the Olympic Games.
Olympics: Weightlifting (July 25th — August 5th)
Forms of weightlifting have been a part of human history for centuries, with many societies having some form in their culture. In terms of Olympic weightlifting, the first form of the modern event is traced back to 19th century Europe. It became quickly popularized in the later half of the century, so much so that it was one of just nine sports to be featured at the first modern Olympics in 1896.
Since then there have been tweaks to events, weight classes and equipment. For a long time there were three different lifts that comprised the weightlifiting event at the Olympics. Those were: the overhead press, the snatch, and the clean and jerk. The overhead press was discontinued in 1972 as it was becoming harder to enforce the rules of a proper lift, thus today we only have the two latter.
The weight classes in Olympic weightlifting have undergone many changes throughout its existence and at Tokyo 2020 we will yet again see a new set of classes. At Tokyo 2020 there will be seven weight classes in both men’s and women’s competition, subtracting one weight class from the males division.
In the medal count, the Soviet Union despite being dissolved in 1991, still has the most medals with 62 (39 Golds, 21 Silvers & 2 Bronze). The other notable countries are China (54 Total Medals), the United States (44 Total Medals) and Bulgaria (37 Total Medals).
If you would like more information on Olympic weightlifting you can check out the official Olympic page for more details.
Paralympics: Powerlifting (August 27th — August 31st)
Paralympic powerlifting is an adapted version of standard powerlifting with it comprising of solely the benchpress. Weightlifting began to be incorporated into the Paralympic Games at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games, but was switched to powerlifting in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games. This change to the event saw a massive increase in participants, with thirty three more countries being represented. The woman’s powerlifting event was first introduced in 2000, with ninety two women competing.
Similarly to Olympic weightlifting the events are separated into weightclasees. There are 10 weight divisions in para-powerlifting for both men and women. Besides making the weight, participants must be able to extend there arms to reach the minimum required length of a full rep. There are also several classifications based on the athlete’s disability. If you would like to read into some of those classifications set by the the IPC, there will be a link provided down below to the official Paralympic site.
Many of the top performing countries in Paralympic Powerlifting do not reflect those in Olympic weightlifting. Nigeria ranks 3rd most with 47 total medals, behind Egypt with 68 and China with 71. The records for Paralympic Powerlifting is quite astonishing, with the Women’s current record being 160kg by Josephine Orji of Nigeria and the men’s being 310kg by Suanabd Rahman of Iran.
Venue
When approaching the venue, it is hard to necessarily pick it out from a distance, as it appears to be structurally similar to other buildings in the downtown Tokyo area. If you can get a view from the side on elevated ground however, it can appear rather unique. The glass ceiling of the southern building was designed to give the appearance of a ship. As you explore more and more of the facility you notice the interior of the building is rather stunning.
Originally built in 1996, replacing the Tokyo City Hall, it now serves as a multi venue facility that is seemingly two seperate buildings. However despite the ground floor being a detached open area with variety of resteraunts, seated areas and trees, the two wings of the venue are actually attached underground. In total there are fourteen floors to this facility. The forum is also broken down into seven sections: Hall A, Hall B, Hall C, Hall D, Hall E1, Hall E2 and Section G.
Although they haven’t publically announced which section will be used to host the two scheduled events, there can be some assumptions as to which ones are leading candidates. The two most obvious choices are Hall A or the attached Hall E1 and E2 for a couple of reasons. Hall A is the largest of all the halls with a capacity of over five thousand seats. It has the largest stage aswell, which you would expect that those organising the events would prefer. For the latter option, Hall E differes in that it is an open room concept, which could be utilized. If they decided to for some reason split the event into multiple areas, there are many colour coordinated signs that allow you to easily navigate between each of the facilities if need be.
The thing that will makes this venue particularly accessible for spectators is all the built in conviniences such as a baby nursing station, multiple resteraunts, shops and lockers. The resteraunts range from a café, to an Italian restraunts, to a very popular burger joint. If you are looking for some more authentic Japanese food, there are multiple Izakayas (Japanese Pubs) within thirty seconds of the Tokyo International Forum.
Here is a link to their official site if you want to look into other events or even book your own.
Location & Transportation
Address: 3 Chome-5–1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 100–0005
The Tokyo International Forum in the center of Tokyo is a mere six minute walk from the Imperial Palace and as you would expect is quite conveniently located. It is often cited as being part of the Yurakucho district, but is actually under jursidiction of the Marunouchi district. Being in the middle of the city, it gives you easy access to other Tokyo 2020 venues like the Nippon Budokan (Judo/Karate) and the Imperial Palace Garden (Race Walk). To the south there is the bay area where many more events and can be accessed by taking a single train from Tokyo Station (JR Keiyo Line).
The Tokyo International Forum has multiple stations within walking distance. It is actually directly attached to Tokyo Station. There are multiple signs throughout the station that lead you to a stairwell that will allow you to end up right between the two buildings. It is one of the easiest and conveniently located of the Tokyo 2020 Venues, despite being in one of the busiest places. Tokyo Station isn’t the only station extremely close by, the JR Yurakucho station is directly adjacent to the facilities as well.
Other options are taking a car, as the Tokyo International Forum has its own designated parking area. If you don’t posess a Japanese liscence, you will have to aquire a international liscence which can be obtained in your home country through companies like CAA, or by contacting your local DMV and asking for assistance. This may actually be less convinent as the traffic can sometimes be congested, and with the added traffic of news media, national teams support staff, etc, this method of transportation could be difficult. The price currently is 200 Yen per 30 minutes, yet one would assume this prices could be increased during the games.
If you feel overwhelmed with choices when touring Tokyo, this venue is also quite close to a tourist information center, which will allow you to more effectively plan some sightseeing. To get to said tourist location just head west from the Tokyo International Forum and after the second stop light take a left. There you can get loads of information on travel and activities.
The Tokyo International Forum will be the perfect venue to hold the weighlifting and para powerlifting events at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Not only is it loaded with infrastructure to host a large number of people, as it already does so daily, but also it’s location will be attractive for spectators. It is a known venue not just on a local scale and will serve as a great homebase for some of the strongest individuals in the world.
If you wish to contact me, you can reach me at Shotarohmoore@hotmail.com
