Tokyo shows off Olympic logo amid stadium furor

The logos for the Olympic and Paralympic games are based around the letter "T" for Tokyo. They were designed by Japanese artist Kenjiro Sato.

During a ceremony at Tokyo City Hall on Tuesday, International Olympic Committee Vice President John Coates said the "emblem reflects the vibrant nature of the city and the welcoming spirit of its citizens."

Doomed stadium plans

Five years before the opening ceremony for the games, the Olympic Stadium has become the center of a major controversy. Construction of the stadium was supposed to begin in October and be completed by May 2019 in time for the Rugby World Cup.

But two weeks ago the Japanese government scrapped the plans because the building costs had risen above $2 billion (1.8 billion euros), a figure nearly double the original estimates. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country was going "back to the drawing board."

On Tuesday, the UK-based architects headed by Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid, who had drawn up the stadium plans, issued a lengthy statement on their website. They blamed an uncompetitive selection of contractors and said that their warnings on the subject were ignored.

Zaha Hadid Architects said in their statement: "Our warning was not heeded that selecting contractors too early in a heated construction market and without sufficient competition would lead to an overly high estimate of the cost of construction."

The architects said rises in construction costs, the imperative of having the stadium finished by a fixed date and the use of a two-stage tender process had inflated costs. Under the tender process, contractors were named before any invitation to submit costs. There was no international competition.

The stadium's futuristic design had been derided by some as looking like a bicycle helmet.

According to media reports in Japan, $47.62 million has already been paid out to Hadid, other architects and construction firms. The reports suggest little of that money is likely to be recovered. "Most of the money has already been paid, so the scrapping of the existing stadium construction plan is expected to (mean) the money is wasted," Kyodo news agency reported.

A new design for the stadium is to be chosen through an international competition. It is not expected to be finished until the spring of 2020.

jm/kms (Reuters, AP)