Economic Impact of the Tokyo Olympics

Every Saturday, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on August 9, 2021. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.

Another Olympics has come and gone. And as the athletes and sponsors leave town, Tokyo could be left to deal with the debt, gentrification, and displacement that can come from hosting the games. In this episode, we look at the social cost of hosting sporting events and the activists fighting to keep the Olympics out of their hometowns. 

In this episode: 

• Christopher Gaffney (@geostadia), associate professor at New York University
• Theresa Williamson (@greencities), executive director of Catalytic Communities (@CatComm)
• Jonny Coleman of @NOlympicsLA

Episode credits: 

This episode was updated by Tamara Khandaker. The original production team was Priyanka Tilve, Negin Owliaei, Dina Kesbeh, Alexandra Locke, Amy Walters, Ney Alvarez, Tom Fenton, and our host, Kevin Hirten, in for Malika Bilal. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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