After misstep, 2020 Tokyo Olympics finally have an official logo

Hosting the Olympic Games requires a nearly herculean effort.

The chosen city must prepare an array of venues, provide housing for thousands of athletes and create a transportation infrastructure to accommodate a three-week influx of fans.

So it is always a bit surprising how much time and effort goes into the creation of the official logo.

On Monday, organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Games unveiled their emblem, a circle composed of traditional indigo blue rectangles.

The process took seven months with Tokyo 2020 holding an unprecedented open competition. A special subcommittee considered almost 15,000 entries and solicited 40,000 comments from the public.

There was also a significant glitch when the original selection had to be thrown out because of allegations of plagiarism.

Organizers characterized the new winner, with its variety of geometric shapes, as representing “different countries, cultures and ways of thinking.”

“I am extremely grateful to all members of the committee for their outstanding efforts over the past seven months,” said Ryohei Miyata, who chaired the logo subcommittee. “I very much hope that the emblems will prove popular with people everywhere.”

Now, it seems, organizers can get back to their troubled Olympic stadium project.