Japan "has won gold again -- in the Olympic missteps category," according to KYODO.
The designers of the new National Stadium "apparently forgot to include a cauldron for the Olympic flame."
And "they cannot just stick it anywhere: The interior is largely lined with wood."
Officials are blaming a "lack of communications" between the government and other parties, but say they will fix the problem.
A multiparty leaders’ coordination commission for the 2020 Games said that "it will set up a review team to decide where to put the flame." The cauldron "is not mentioned in the government’s August development plan," while the IOC stipulates the cauldron should ideally be placed somewhere visible from both inside and outside the stadium. A government source said, "It stems from the lack of communications between the JSC, the government, the organizing committee and other parties when the new development plan was being drawn up" (KYODO, 3/4). The ASAHI SHIMBUN reported Zaha Hadid’s original design "also envisioned placing the cauldron outside the stadium because a roof would cover the seating area."
The lighting of the cauldron by the final torch bearer "marks the start of an Olympics." The cauldron "has been placed outside the main stadium for two Winter Games, but never for any Summer Olympics." A high-ranking official of the Japanese Olympic Committee said of the JSC’s plan, "It would be disgraceful because it would be unprecedented for a Summer Olympics" (ASAHI SHIMBUN, 3/4).
