The Japanese city was the first to enter the race at the end of  January 2020, before there was any thought of postponing the the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

The city carved its own niche last year as the first to stage events at a summer Games after hosting a Winter Games when it hosted the Olympic marathons and walks.

Sapporo became the first Asian city to stage the Winter Olympics half-a-century ago in 1972. 

Officials have claimed that the facilities built then could be reused for the Games in 2030.

The Japan Times, the English language newspaper, has suggested that "the influence of the global sporting event lives on, even as the city gathers support for its bid for the 2030 Games."

"The 1972 Olympics were a catalyst in the development of urban infrastructure," Sapporo’s tourism manager Noriaki Nii told the newspaper.

"Sapporo’s presence as a winter sports city was enhanced, and the Sapporo Snow Festival of that time was broadcast around the world along with images of the Games, which led to the city’s development into a metropolis attracting many tourists from Japan and abroad."

As a result of Sapporo 1972, "The city was modernised and internationalisation progressed in leaps and bounds," the World Union of Olympic Cities have said.

Academics Stephen Essex and Jiska De Groot, authors of The Winter Olympics: Driving Urban Change 1924-2022, examined Sapporo 1972 in their study

"The Games were viewed by the Japanese Government as a unique economic opportunity to invigorate the northern island of Hokkaido," they wrote.

They discovered that less than five per cent of expenditure was made on sports facilities and the remainder on infrastructure.

The International Olympic Committee claimed that Sapporo 1972 demonstrated that it was possible to stage the Games in Asia.

It enabled Sapporo to become "a model for cities in snowy climates" and "a winter sports hub in Asia", and ultimately encouraged the Games to return to the continent.

In !972 ski jumper Yukio Kasaya won Japan’s first Winter Olympic gold medal.

Akitsugu Konno,took silver in the same competition as Japanese jumpers achieved a podium clean sweep. 

"My success encouraged young Japanese to become jumpers," Konno said. 

When the bid was made, the population of the city was around 760,000. 

By 1972, it had swelled to over a million and today, approximately 1,973,000 live in the city and surrounding areas.

Nine of the 12 venues used were newly constructed.

In the years which followed, the Ōkurayama Ski Jump Stadium has become a tourist attraction.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the city attracted some 980,000 visitors each winter, approximately 40 per cent of the total yearly visitors as a result of the growth in interest in winter Sport following 1972.

The Encyclopaedia of the Modern Olympic Movement has since suggested that "the redevelopment of Sapporo was brought forward as many as 10 to 15 years by investments in relation to the Olympic Games".

Many believe the Hokkaido region was  established as a ski destination and the growth of holiday homes and guest houses were also attributed to the Games.

This was part of the "romanticisation" of the Hokkaido snow country that was influenced by the 1972 Olympics," Kristian Lund, managing editor of Niesko Travel, said.