Masa Takaya, a spokesperson for the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, compared the process to a "marathon".

The Olympics and Paralympics were scheduled to take place last year only to be delayed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It has been a long journey for Takaya, who was part of Tokyo’s unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Games from 2007 to 2009.

In 2011, he joined the committee in charge of securing the rights to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

Takaya said Tokyo 2020 organisers were stepping into the "unknown" when they were forced to push back preparations by 12 months.

The coronavirus continues to dominate the build-up with a large portion of the Japanese public remaining sceptical over the staging of the Games.

The Olympics are scheduled to get underway on Friday (July 23), ending a long and difficult road for organisers.

"Looking back at the past year, it has been a long journey for everyone involved in this project," said Takaya.

"The postponement decision was made in March - four months away from the opening.

"From that respect, there was a certain level of disappointment.

"Soon after that, everyone involved in this project was able to feel that it was a great decision as the safety and well-being was above everything else.

"Everyone was convinced of that.

"Given the fact that the decision was made four months before the Games, we were at a 40k marathon and then we were suddenly told we have another 10k [to go].

"The feeling was that it would be a really long and tough journey over the coming year and indeed it has been a really tough journey over the past year.

"This is an unprecedented situation as no one has been able to manage a postponement of the Olympic Games.

"It has something of the unknown, trying to put everything together has been a very challenging job.

"Across the years, there were good moments and extremely challenging moments, but we are here, four days before the Opening Ceremony.

"People are coming from every corner of the world in this very challenging time where people are split apart because of the COVID.

"I feel that there is a growing sense of solidarity, which is something we want to convey from Tokyo to people across the world through their Games time."

Takaya also underlined the financial pressures facing Tokyo 2020, with the overall budget increasing to $15.4 billion (£11.2 billion/€13 billion) following the postponement.

The figure includes $1.1 billion (£800 million/€932 million) to cover the costs of the COVID-19 countermeasures.

The simplification measures put in place by organisers have been dubbed the "Tokyo Model" by Tokyo 2020 and the International Olympic Committee, with suggestions future host countries can learn from the cost-cutting steps.

"When [Seiko] Hashimoto took up her position [as Tokyo 2020 President in February 2021], she said the postponement of the Games is something that no one has experienced," Takaya said.

"She wants to leverage this entire process to further the Olympic and Paralympic Movement in many ways.

"She says it could be a Tokyo Model.

"We were able to go through a simplification process, which is one of the major tasks during the past two years.

"We looked into new measures where we were able to reduce the level of the services and the costs.

"We have been trying to simplify the Games as much as possible and focus on the essential areas of the Games.

"This is something we are working on in an intensive way.

"We identified over 50 areas that we were able to reduce, cutting the budget by $300 million (£218 million/€933 million).

"[If other host countries follow the Tokyo Model], that would be a real honour and a big achievement for Tokyo 2020."