24/7 Crew build the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

An exciting opportunity arose for our crew to fly out to Japan and assist with the build of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. A job like this doesn’t come around very often (with the Olympics only taking place every four years), so naturally all the crew put forward their availability. After much deliberation the lucky crew were selected and the countdown to take-off began.

Our team were support for a much larger team building The Osaka Shooting Range in the north west of Tokyo. This was the location of the shooting competitions in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games and will also host this year’s Rifle, Pistol and Clay shooting. There is usually very little at the site so an Olympic-standard temporary facility is to be constructed. The range itself would need to be at least 50 metres long with a supporting venue to host around 400 athletes from 100 countries with participants in the Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Events along with a spectators’ area capable of seating thousands.

Working alongside ESG, our crew took charge of building roof arch sections and the towers to support them. Every detail of the construction had to be perfect in order for the structure to be sound. Day after day, everyone on site worked tirelessly to ensure the build kept to its strict schedule. That was until Tuesday 24^th March arrived. This was the day that Japan announced the postponement of Tokyo 2020. So much pressure had been placed on Japan over the increasing Coronavirus threat; there was no safe way to continue with the Games and a cancellation for this year was inevitable.

From this point on, it was a race against the virus to have the Shooting Range takedown complete before it was too late to travel home. The crew went about derigging the roof arches and towers then transferred their skills to assist the aerial teams to remove the ballistic screens, folding them as they dropped. This became an unnerving time and every person on site pulled together to support one another and finish the takedown as efficiently as possible.

After 5 weeks in Japan, and unexpectedly shorter than planned, it was time for 24/7 Crew to return home to find another challenge awaiting, Covid was ripping through the country at an alarming rate.