导读:为了降低螺旋式上升的成本,东京市政府本周宣布对2020年奥运会场馆进行几处修改。
LonDON — The president of the International Olympic Committee this week urged Tokyo’s mayor not to change the rules of the competition after city authorities announced several changes to the venues for the 2020 games in order to cut spiraling costs.
伦敦报道——为了降低螺旋式上升的成本,东京市政府本周宣布对2020年奥运会场馆进行几处修改,国际奥委会主席就此敦促东京都知事不要改变竞争规则。
The budget had been estimated at $15 billion, six times the original cost.
据估计,预算已经达到了150亿美元,是原来成本的六倍。
The venues for basketball, taekwondo and cycling have been moved outside of Tokyo to existing facilities, and other construction projects are under review.
篮球、跆拳道和自行车场馆已经移到东京之外的现存场馆了,其他建设工程正在审议中。
Tokyo Mayor Yuriko Koike said while meeting IOC President Thomas Bach this week that she owed such frugality to the people of Tokyo, as it is their public funds that would be spent.
东京都知事小池百合子说,虽然本周和国际奥委会主席托马斯·巴赫会面了,她还是将这样的节俭归功于东京人民,因为建设用到的是他们的公共资金。
“It is necessary that we win their understanding,” she added.
“我们必须赢得他们的理解。”她补充说。
Bach, however, urged the mayor not to "change the rules" of the competition.
但是巴赫敦促东京都知事不要“改变竞争的规则”。
"We will continue in this way of cooperation to make the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 the most sustainable and feasible games possible," he said.
“我们将继续保持这种形式的合作,确保2020年东京奥运会的可持续和可行性尽可能达到最大。”
Tokyo’s fear over spiraling costs was echoed in Rome, whose mayor Virginia Raggi from the anti-establishment Five Star movement announced last month that the city would withdrawal from the race to host the 2024 Games.
随着来自反体制的“五星运动党”的罗马市长维吉尼亚·拉吉上月宣布罗马将退选2024年夏季奥运会的主办权,东京市对螺旋式上升的成本也开始担忧起来。
"What these Olympics require is taking on additional debt,” Raggi said. “Sincerely, we don’t feel that is right.”
“奥运会需要让我们负担额外的债务。”拉吉说,“老实说,我们不觉得这是对的。”
The IOC faces a growing problem, as fewer and fewer cities are prepared to cover the costs, says Olympic historian Philip Barker.
奥利匹克历史学家菲利普·巴克说,国际奥委会正在面临一个问题,那就是:越来越少的城市想要掏钱办奥运了。
"We’ve seen it with the Winter Games for 2022,” he said. “It was only Beijing and Almaty, after two excellent candidates — Oslo and Stockholm, who you would have thought were perfectly suited to the Winter Games — pulled out because of costs.”
“我们在2022年冬奥会的申办中已经见过了。”他说,“两个出色的候选城市——奥斯陆和斯德哥尔摩因为成本问题退选之后,就只剩下北京和阿拉木图了。说真的,退选那两个城市真的很适合办冬奥会。”
The U.S. city of Boston and the German city of Hamburg also withdrew their bids for the 2024 Summer Games last year.
美国城市波士顿和德国城市汉堡也于去年退选了2024年夏季奥运会的主办权。
Beijing’s 2008 games, and the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 both cost tens of billions of dollars. The IOC is now trying to change the image of the games from one of excess to one of sustainability.
2008年北京奥运会和2014年索契冬奥会都花费了数百亿美元。国际奥委会正在试着把奥运会的形象从“好大喜功”转变为“可持续发展”。
"Let’s make a positive virtue out of not building new facilities, out of using what they call ‘demountable’ facilities — that is to say temporary builds that can then be deconstructed and sent somewhere else,” Barker said.
“我们可以打造一种正面的美德,不用建造新设备,或者建造他们称之为‘可拆卸’的设备——就是那种可以拆卸之后送到其他地方的临时建筑。”
Some people push for the Summer Games to permanently located in their original home of Greece. That, however, is not realistic, Barker argues.
一些人主张夏季奥运会应该永久在发源地希腊举办。但是,巴克反驳说,这是不现实的。
"Part of the attraction of the Olympics is that they do go from place to place,” he said. “It’s an international sporting event, it isn’t just for one city."
“奥林匹克运动的魅力之一就是从一个地方到另一个地方。”他说,“这是一项国际体育赛事,而不属于某一个城市。”
But the IOC still has work to do to convince many world cities that hosting the Olympics is a boon, not a burden.
但是国际奥委会还是要费很大力气说服世界上的很多城市——主办奥运会有好处,并不是一种负担。