As soon as these issues began to surface, local media pointed fingers at the company managing venue operations: the Japanese subsidiary of France’s GL Events.
GL Events had won the 63bn yen (£306m; $405m) contract over Dentsu Group, an advertising giant with a long history of successfully running sporting events in Japan that had been sidelined after a criminal bid-rigging conviction.
A source told Kyodo news agency that GL Events was “overwhelmingly cheaper” than alternative providers.
Last week the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper accused the firm of aggressively cutting corners on hiring, resulting in a shortage of experienced staff capable of managing the issues which arose. The personnel that were recruited were not properly trained, the newspaper alleged.
But organiser Takaaki Omi stressed that GL Events “has experience in international sporting events, including the Paris Olympic Games”.
“We believe the necessary competition environment was in place by the start of competition, including thorough discussions and co-ordination with GL Events,” he told the BBC.
Prof Tomiyama said he didn’t think it was right to “simply conclude that GL events did not have sufficient experience with international competitions”. He believes the issue stemmed from the “extremely broad” scope of responsibility they were given.
“Also, because this was a negotiated contract rather than a competitive tender, it’s important to examine the criteria organisers used to assess the contractor’s capabilities, as well as how they supervised the contractor after the contract was awarded,” Tomiyama added.
GL Events did not respond to repeated BBC requests for comment.
