Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad - Tokyo 2020

[gotosy]

16/10/2013

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has appointed IOC Vice-President John Coates as Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad ­- Tokyo 2020; and Frank Fredericks as Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the 3rd Summer Youth Olympic Games - Buenos Aires 2018.

Coates and Fredericks will lead two experienced teams of commission members, also named today, who will be responsible for assisting their respective local Organising Committees as they prepare for their editions of the Games. The members of the Coordination Commissions represent the stakeholders of the Olympic Movement, including the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, International Sports Federations, and the International Paralympic Committee, and act as a link between them, the Organising Committees and other Olympic Movement stakeholders, thereby ensuring the coordination necessary to help deliver successful editions of the Games.

President Bach also decided that Arne Ljungqvist, Gerhard Heiberg and Hein Verbruggen will continue in their roles as chairmen of the Medical Commission, Marketing Commission and OBS, respectively, until after the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games to ensure continuity in the preparations. The terms of all three had been set to expire after the IOC Session in Buenos Aires.

Following Richard Carrión’s decision to resign from his different positions within the IOC, the President and he agreed that in order to assist in this transition process, Mr Carrión would continue to lead the TV negotiations already under way outside Europe until the Sochi 2014 Games. President Bach asked IOC member Ser Miang Ng to chair the next meeting of the Finance Commission in December.

As the President has already indicated, the composition and structure of all IOC commissions and working groups will be reviewed after the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

The members of the Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad - Tokyo 2020are as follows:

Chairman
John COATES

Vice-Chair
Alex GILADY

Members (in alphabetical order)
Sebastian COE
Mikaela COJUANGCO-JAWORSKI
Kirsty COVENTRY
Anita DEFRANTZ
Guy DRUT
Habu GUMEL
Nicole HOEVERTSZ
Robin MITCHELL
Lydia NSEKERA
Andrew PARSONS
Irena SZEWINSKA
Marius VIZER
Zaiqing YU

...

IOC

[Sir Rols]

Good to see Coates take up the post - he's a good operator, so I'd say the committee's in good hands.

Coe's a surprise! But again, a good appointment. And to think there's still pockets here who say Seb'll never become an IOC member. I still see it as inevitable.

[Athensfan]

Good to see Coates take up the post - he's a good operator, so I'd say the committee's in good hands.

Coe's a surprise! But again, a good appointment. And to think there's still pockets here who say Seb'll never become an IOC member. I still see it as inevitable.

I'd say this appointment supports your point.

[baron-pierreIV]

Coe's a surprise! But again, a good appointment. And to think there's still pockets here who say Seb'll never become an IOC member. I still see it as inevitable.

Altho only in his capacity as future IAAF president. Will be difficult to get him in as an unattached Brit member because there are already currently FOUR Brits in the IOC -- so, unless one retires within the year or before Coe succeeds Diack in the IAAF.

[gotosy]

Coates gets ball rolling on IOC work with Tokyo

SYDNEY (AP) - John Coates has started the diplomatic process as the International Olympic Committee's Coordination Commission chairman for Tokyo 2020.

Coates, the head of Australia's Olympic Committee and one of the key players in Sydney's successful hosting of the 2000 Olympics, met with Yoshitaka Akimoto, Japan's Ambassador to Australia, on Thursday in his first official act as head of the 16-member Coordination Commission.

Coates said his appointment, ''is an opportunity to give something back from what I have learned previously and in the case of Tokyo help the Japanese Olympic Committee and the Japanese Government.''

The Japanese capital defeated Istanbul and Madrid in a vote in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7 for the right to host the 2020 Olympics.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2013/olympics/wires/10/17/2090.ap.oly.tokyo.2020.coates/index.html#ixzz2i1ILWu27

[gotosy]

IOC officials arrive for orientation seminar

Kyodo

An International Olympic Committee team arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday for the first time since the Japanese capital won the 2020 Olympic bid in Buenos Aires two months ago.

Led by Gilbert Felli, the executive director for the Olympic Games, a four-man IOC team will hold a two-day orientation seminar starting Thursday for Japanese organizers at the Ajinomoto National Training Center.

Felli was greeted by Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda upon his arrival, the Swiss offering a big handshake and the words, “Congratulations, Tokyo.”

During the seminar, Felli will be outlining the course of events over the next seven years to Takeda and JOC members, the national federations of the 28 sports for Tokyo, as well as officials from the national and metropolitan governments.

Expected on the agenda will be the makeup of Tokyo’s organizing committee, which will be launched in February.

Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has been linked with the job of heading the committee, though on Wednesday, Japan Sports Association chief Fujio Cho, also the honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corp., said the position should go to someone “young, like in his 50s.”

“The younger generation should be at the heart of it all,” said the 76-year-old Cho, who has also been mentioned for the job. “I think us old-timers should just be there to support them.”

Felli will summarize the two days with a news conference on Friday.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2013/11/13/more-sports/olympics/ioc-officials-arrive-for-orientation-seminar/#.UoSdxeKQM1c

[baron-pierreIV]

It's not like Japan hasn't organized an Olympics before. Why there was just one 15 years ago. And a World Cup in between.

[Palette86]

Cho Fujio's "someone young" must be Akio Toyota.

By the way, I don't like the name "Ajinomoto" training center.(Ajinomoto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajinomoto)

I know Ajinomoto stadium in chofu city,,,,,,.it's just this corporation owns the naming rights.How do you think if,in your country,there are some stadiums with names like,Heinz ketchup stadium,M&M training center,Teddy graham stadium,Jelly belly stadium,,,,,,,?

[gotosy]

Tokyo 2020 team begins IOC talks

Tokyo Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori and IOC Vice President John Coates in Minato Ward, Tokyo, on Thursday

11:23 pm, April 03, 2014

With an International Olympic Committee advance team currently visiting Tokyo, the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games shifted into top gear with their exchange of opinions about how to coordinate preparations Thursday.

The advance team is a group of professionals who have directed the preparations made by previous Olympic Games host countries. The advance team—led by the head of the commission—has arrived in Tokyo prior to the June arrival of the IOC’s Coordination Commission, which is responsible for monitoring preparation.

On Thursday morning, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee, and Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe met with IOC Vice President John Coates at a Tokyo hotel. The meeting appeared to be relaxed and friendly.

As Coates is also the head of the Coordination Commission, he has responsibility for the Tokyo Games within the IOC. Masuzoe said at the beginning of the meeting, “Please rest assured, we will make steady preparations for the event under close cooperation with the IOC.” Coates pledged his support to Tokyo.

Nine of the IOC members visiting Tokyo are responsible for operations at the games and managing venues and related facilities. “Tokyo knows nothing about running the games,” a senior official of the Tokyo Organizing Committee said. “We will listen humbly to the IOC’s opinions throughout these negotiations.”

Business operators

Tokyo has already faced many challenges in relation to the 2020 Games—producing multilingual sign boards, for example. As many visitors were unable to communicate in English at the Sochi Games, which ended in March, Tokyo has to find a way to address this.

Masuzoe, who visited Sochi, has been examining the issue, and launched a multiple language committee together with the central government last month. Business operators, such as train companies, convenience store chains, hotels and restaurants, also joined the committee to discuss signage, restaurant menus and leaflets written in multiple languages for tourists.

Tight schedule

The IOC has placed highest priority on construction progress and financial arrangements. The organizing committee and the metropolitan government are arranging the schedule for construction of new facilities and calculating budgets in order to compile a basic plan by February 2015.

The pace of negotiations with the IOC will increase again from June when the Coordination Commission visits Japan. Talks with the commission will be held once a year until the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. After that the frequency of meetings will rise to four per year, and all preparatory work will progress at high speed.

The organizing committee increased the number of officials on Tuesday, from 49 to 107, because the preparatory work will soon intensify. “We have started preparations in top gear,” said Director General Toshiro Muto.

“We will make a success of the event, working together with the sports world and the metropolitan and central governments,” Mori added.

Yomiuri

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001182649

[gotosy]

IOC and Tokyo 2020 organisers review venue plans

The International Olympic Committee and the 2020 Tokyo Games organisers opened their first on-site meeting on Wednesday to check preparations for the event amid disquiet over soaring costs for some of the venues.

John Coates (L), IOC Vice President and Chairman of the coordination Commission for the Games of 32th Olympiad - Tokyo 2020, and former Japanese PM and President of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic Games Yoshiro Mori ® in Tokyo. (AFP/Yoshikazu TSUNO)

TOKYO: The International Olympic Committee and the 2020 Tokyo Games organisers opened their first on-site meeting on Wednesday to check preparations for the event amid disquiet over soaring costs for some of the venues.

The 16-member IOC coordination commission for the 2020 Summer Olympics was to hold talks with the organisers and tour some of the proposed venues over three days, its first visit to Tokyo since the Japanese capital outbid Istanbul and Madrid last September for the rights to host the event.

The commission, headed by IOC vice president John Coates, will visit Tokyo 10 times before the opening of what the city has promised to be a compact Games with 85 percent of the venues located within an eight-kilometre (five-mile) radius.

Earlier this month, Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe told the metropolitan assembly and the IOC that his administration will have to review the venue plans, largely because of rising construction and labour costs.

In an official document submitted to the IOC, Tokyo has estimated total expenses for venues at about 150 billion yen ($1.47 billion) including the construction of 10 new facilities. But it is feared by some assembly members that the price will more than double.

Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister who heads the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, has agreed to the review amid growing concern that the metropolitan administration's $4-billion reserve fund for hosting the Olympics may not be enough.

One of the plans to be reviewed is construction of a canoe course at a seaside park that is home to rare wild birds, sparking objections from a national group of bird lovers.

Basketball and badminton may be staged at existing facilities well outside the eight-kilometre ring instead of venues to be built on a waterfront area near the Olympic village.

Masuzoe has been vague on whether a new 80,000-seat Olympic stadium -- to be funded by the national government -- would be part of the sweeping review.

A coalition of prominent architects and civil activists has charged that the stadium would be too big and expensive, and spoil the skyline. The stadium's cost is estimated at $1.6 billion, although critics say this figure will likely rise.

- AFP/de

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/olympics-ioc-and-tokyo/1204832.html