Bids[edit]

Main article: Bids for the 2020 Summer Olympics

As part of an agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International
Olympic Committee first established in 2001, the host of the 2020 Summer Olympics would
also host the 2020 Summer Paralympics.[4] After the second round of voting, which followed a
tie-breaker, the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were awarded to Tokyo at the 125th
IOC Session.

2020 Summer Olympics host city election[5]

Round Runof
City Team Round 2
1 f

Tokyo  Japan 42 — 60

Istanbu
 Turkey 26 49 36
l

Madrid  Spain 26 45 —

Preparations[edit]
Transport[edit]
Ahead of the 2016 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony, Governor of Tokyo Yuriko
Koike advocated for the city to improve its accessibility as a legacy project for the Games. She
cited narrow roadways with no sidewalks, and buildings constructed with narrow doorways and
low ceilings, as challenges that needed to be overcome. In particular, she called for a transition
to underground power lines to facilitate the widening of roads. [6][7][8]
A number of Toyota e-Palette self-driving vehicles had been adapted to provide transport to
athletes in the Paralympic Games village. On 27 August, however, use of the vehicles was
suspended after one collided with an athlete.[9]

Volunteers[edit]
In September 2018, applications to be volunteers at the Olympic and Paralympic Games were
released. By January 2019 186,101 applications had been received. Interviews to whittle the
numbers down began in February 2019 and training taking place in October 2019. [10] The
volunteers at the venues will be known as "Field Cast" and the volunteers in the city will be
known as "City Cast". These names were chosen from a shortlist of four out of an original 149
pairs of names. The other shortlisted names were "Shining Blue and Shining Blue Tokyo",
"Games Anchor and City Anchor" and "Games Force and City Force". The names were chosen
by the people who had applied to be volunteers at the games. [11]
Medals[edit]
The designs of the medals for the 2020 Summer Paralympics were unveiled on 25 August
2019;[12] as with the Olympic medals, they are constructed using recycled metals that were
obtained through an electronics recycling programme.[13] The medals feature a design inspired
by traditional folding hand fans to symbolise the shared experience of the Paralympics;
alternating sectors containing textured areas visually and tactually depict rocks, flowers, wood,
leaves, and water to symbolise the geology of Japan. The pivot where the fan meets is stated
to symbolise the unity of Paralympic athletes. The obverse of the medal contains an untextured
version of the fan pattern, the Paralympic emblem, and inscriptions in braille. To aid those with
visual impairments, the edges and ribbons of the medals contain one, two, or three circular
indentations and silicone convex dots for gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively so that
they can be easily identified by touch.[14][15]

COVID-19 impact[edit]
Main articles: 2020 Summer Olympics §  Biosecurity protocols, and COVID-19 cases at the
2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics
The 2020 Summer Olympics were largely held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19
pandemic in Japan and a state of emergency in Tokyo issued by Prime Minister Yoshihide
Suga, though events in some regions could be held with up to 10,000 spectators or 50%
capacity (whichever is smaller). The declaration was originally in effect from 12 July through
22 August 2021 (two days before the Paralympic opening ceremony); on 2 August, citing
worsening rates of infection, Suga announced that the existing state of emergency would be
extended through 31 August, and expanded to several other prefectures (including three that
neighbour Tokyo).[16]
New daily cases in Tokyo reached over 4,000 by 11 August 2021; it was anticipated that no
public spectators would be admitted at venues in Tokyo and other affected regions, as with the
Olympics. Organizers discussed other options for some form of spectator presence, such as
inviting local school students to attend events (a programme which was also employed during
the Olympics, and largely scaled back due to the pandemic). [17][18][19] It was later confirmed that
there would be no public spectators at venues in the Tokyo, Chiba, and Saitama prefectures.
[20]
 On 19 August, the state of emergency was extended through 12 September 2021, and
expanded to include Shizuoka.[21]
On 20 August 2021, Tokyo Organizing Committee delivery officer Hidemasa Nakamura stated
that the biosecurity protocols for the Paralympics had been expanded upon those from the
Olympics due to the increased vulnerability to COVID-19 among its athletes, but that Tokyo
was facing deteriorating hospital capacity, and that "It’s a fight against time so we need to
make sure that sufficient communication is taken at a speedy manner." [22] Paula Tesoriero of
the New Zealand delegation stated that the Tokyo Organizing Committee and IPC had "worked
tirelessly to create the safest and secure environment possible with a focus on continuing to
stay vigilant".[23]

Torch relay[edit]
Main article: 2020 Summer Paralympics torch relay
The details of the torch relay route were announced on 21 November 2019, there will be a
Heritage Flame Celebration that will be held in Stoke Mandeville and flame lighting festivals will
take place in 43 of Japan's 47 prefectures between 13 and 17 August 2020. Torch relays will
be scheduled from 18 to 21 August throughout four prefectures that will co-host Paralympic
events during the run-up to the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. The flames from each of the
flame lighting festivals hosted in each prefecture will be brought together in Tokyo on 21
August where the Paralympic Flame will be officially lit, the last four days of the torch relay will
start in Tokyo. The locations in which the torch relay goes through will be similar to the 2020
Summer Olympics torch relay.[24][25][26][27]
Aluminium taken from temporary housing in Fukushima will be used to make the torches for
the Olympic and Paralympic flames. More than 10,000 pieces of aluminium will be used and
organisers contacted local authorities to see which houses were no longer being used. [28]

The Games[edit]
Sports[edit]
539 events in 22 sports will be held during the 2020 Summer Paralympics. Cycling events will
be split into road and track disciplines. Team events of goalball, sitting volleyball,
and wheelchair basketball continue as men's and women's events, wheelchair rugby continues
to be a mixed event, while 5-a-side-football will only be open to male competitors. [29] New
events and classifications have also been added or realigned in other sports. [30][31]

2020 Summer Paralympic Sports Programme

  Arch   Eq   Ro   

ery (deta uestria wing ( Wh
ils) (9) n (detai details) eelc
  Athle ls) (11) (4) hair
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ils) (167) tball 5- ooting  ket
a-side  (detail ball 
  Bad (det
minton ( (details s) (13)
ails
details) ) (1)   Sit )
(14)   Go ting (2)
  Bocc alball ( volley
  
ia (detail details) ball (d
Wh
s) (7) (2) etails)
eelc
  Jud (2)
  Cycli hair
ng (detai o (detai   Sw fen
ls) (51) ls) (13) immin cin
  Par g (deta g (d
o
acanoe  ils) etai
  (details (146) ls)
R ) (9)   Ta (16
o ble )
a   Par
atriathl tennis    
d (detail
on (det Wh
  s) (31)
ails) (8) eelc
(
  Ta hair
3   Po
ekwon rug
4 werlifti
do (det by (
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ails) ails)
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( nis 
1 (det
7 ails
) )
(6)

New sports[edit]
In January 2014, the IPC began accepting bids for new sports to be added to the Paralympic
programme; they included amputee football, badminton, power hockey, powerchair football,
and taekwondo. New disciplines were also proposed in existing events, including visually
impaired match racing and one-person multi-hull in sailing, and 3x3 basketball in intellectually
disabled (ID) and wheelchair classifications.[32][33]
On 31 January 2015, the IPC officially announced that badminton and taekwondo had been
added to the Paralympic programme for 2020, which will replace 7-a-side football and sailing
(both dropped due to an insufficient international reach). [29]