During the eight weeks since the MOWA Heritage Athletics Exhibition Tokyo 25 in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was opened by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, some 150,000 visitors have viewed the Museum of World Athletics’ (MOWA) latest international displays.
Governor Koike opens MOWA exhibition as Tokyo is awarded Heritage Plaque
The exhibition, which is located on the 2nd and 45th floors of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No.1, North Tower, contains competition clothing, shoes, equipment and trophies donated by many of the greatest athletes in the sport’s history.
On the 45th observatory deck, MOWA touch screens allow visitors to watch video clips from the Tokyo 1991 edition of the World Athletics Championships. There is also a selection of artefacts from the MOWA Olympic Collection on show, exhibits dating from 1924 to 2024. These include items from Olympic legends such as four-time champions Jesse Owens and Fanny Blankers-Koen, and stars of last year’s Games in Paris such as Nafissatou Thiam and Sifan Hassan.
The main MOWA exhibition space is on the 2nd floor, at which all visitors to the observatory deck must alight from the north tower. Those displays concentrate on the history of the World Athletics Championships from 1983 to 2023, with more than 100 competition artefacts from legends such as Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt, Valerie Adams, Allyson Felix and Jan Zelezny, and this year’s centenary of the Japanese Association of Athletics Federations.
Lewis’s 100m world record captured by Seiko’s photo finish innovation in Tokyo 1991
The MOWA exhibition is located just three stops on the Oedo metro line away from the National Stadium where the World Athletics Championships will be held – click here to download the MOWA Exhibition information.
Ten more MOWA cards to collect – order free of charge
On Friday 12 September, on the eve of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, another 10 athlete cards will be added to the MOWA Collector’s Cards series.
The individually designed and numbered cards each depict an artefact from a famous athlete that has either been donated or loaned to the museum’s collection.
The 10 new cards will be released at the exhibition, one numbered design per day beginning with card No.61 on Friday 12 September and concluding with No.70 on the final day of the exhibition, Sunday 21 September. Visitors can collect one card per design per person, while stocks last.
In total, there are 70 cards in the collection – click here to view the list – and as well as the new cards available from the exhibition in Tokyo, the whole set can be ordered one by one ‘free of charge’ from the online MOWA platform.
Explore the 3D museum and search for the 70 athletes, open their activation pages and select the card icon on the right-hand side, and place your order. One card per numbered design, per person, while stocks last.
All orders placed online will be dispatched at the beginning of October.
World Athletics Heritage