Tokyo 2020 Olympics: With one year to go what are the key stories to watch?

High temperatures are far from the only issue that could keep organisers awake at night. The city was meant to be a much more reliable choice for the IOC after the unprecedented chaos of Rio 2016, where political upheaval, economic recession, the Zika virus and worries over pollution and security marred the build-up, before the Russian doping scandal overshadowed the actual action. Despite plenty of iconic sporting moments in Rio, white elephant venues, and a continuing corruption scandal have since tainted the event’s legacy.

However, Tokyo 2020 has not been without controversy of its own.

Over the next 12 months, as with all Games, there will be scrutiny of overall costs, venue construction, ticketing, security measures, legacy planning, traffic and public transportation measures, accommodation, test events, sustainability, public appetite, commercial revenue, and earthquake evacuation plans.

On several of these measures, the signs are encouraging. Organisers claim half of the eight new permanent venues are already completed and IOC president Thomas Bach has said he cannot recall a better prepared Games. A record number of local sponsorship deals have been signed and there has been exceptionally high demand for tickets with 3.2 million purchased. More than 200,000 people have also registered to be volunteers.

Fifty six years after Tokyo’s first Olympics signalled Japan’s recovery from the second World War, there will be much focus on the extent to which Tokyo 2020 lives up to organisers’ claim that this will be the ‘reconstruction Games’ following the Tohoku disaster in 2011 when an earthquake and tsunami led to 19,000 deaths and a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Baseball and softball matches will be held in the region, along with the start of the torch-relay, a clear attempt by the authorities to show that the region is now safe, despite lingering fears by some experts over radiation levels, and concern at the haste with which the government has ended evacuation orders, stopping subsidies for those affected.

Critics believe the billions being lavished on the Games would be better spent helping to re-house the hundreds of thousands forced from their homes by the catastrophe in the north-east of the country eight years ago.