Tokyo 2020 News - General

[hektor]

I think I remember the crowd in Seoul was not very nice to the adversaries of Korea. I hope they have improved.

[Ikarus360]

They were also acussed of having lots of referee help to grab some gold medals. Japan is known for being very respectful even towards its adversaries though, unlike them (like the infamous defeat their judo star had against the dutch fighter in the 1964 Olympics final...they all clapped in respect to the dutch athlete despite the huge blown he dealt to their pride).

China also seems to be respectful, except when its Japan which is playing against them, then they become as ultras as the koreans (see the final of the 2004 Asian Cup)

[hektor]

I have been to Japan a few times and I am looking forward to going there for the Olympics.

I hope we will discover in 2018 that the Koreans audiences have improved.

The Olympics are now going for a eight year Asian era.

[Sir Rols]

2 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

China also seems to be respectful, except when its Japan which is playing against them, then they become as ultras as the koreans (see the final of the 2004 Asian Cup)

Not so sure about that. There was quite a bit of disquiet before Beijing that the crowds would be boorish, and the Chinese authorities were worried enough about it to institute "training" for the population about how to spectate politely. Sort of lie what their trying to install in their tourists going overseas now.

[Faiyez]

Tokyo will be a very classy Olympics, that's for sure.

[Ikarus360]

5 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

Not so sure about that. There was quite a bit of disquiet before Beijing that the crowds would be boorish, and the Chinese authorities were worried enough about it to institute "training" for the population about how to spectate politely. Sort of lie what their trying to install in their tourists going overseas now.

I heard about it. It happened mostly after the embarassment of the 2004 AFC final I mentioned. There were very bad riots in the stadium suroundings when Japan beat China in the final to the point many got worried of how they would react during the 2008 Olympics. I'm sure the incident was what triggered the Chinese government to do the "training" you mention. 

[gotosy]

Japan Panel Finds Nothing Illegal in Tokyo Olympic Bid

 

TOKYO — An independent panel commissioned by the Japanese Olympic Committee has found nothing illegal in a payment made to a Singapore consulting firm in connection with Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Games.

A report by the panel released Thursday said a $2.8 million Singapore dollar (then $2.3 million) payment to the consultancy Black Tidings for bid planning services and lobbying advice in 2013 was legitimate.

The panel concluded that Tokyo bid executives had no knowledge of the link between the head of Black Tidings, Ian Tan Tong Han, and the son of former IAAF President Lamine Diack, who is facing corruption charges in France.

"The investigation concludes that the contents and execution process of the payment are not in violation of any Japanese law," said lawyer Yoshihisa Hayakawa, who headed the panel. "Any violation of the IOC code of ethics also could not be found."

The panel, comprised of two lawyers and a certified public accountant, said Tan deserved the payment based on detailed reports he provided the committee that demonstrated his ability to lobby effectively and provide useful information for the bid committee.

"The findings are in line with what we expected, and we are relieved," said JOC president Tsunekazu Takeda, who headed the bid committee.

The report noted, however, that the payment was twice the average of what the Tokyo bid committee paid to other consultants. Hayakawa said the team also did not receive an exact accounting of how Tan spent the money.

In addition, the investigation team was unable to speak directly to Tan, Diack or his son, Papa Massata Diack, in part because of the ongoing French corruption investigation, and didn't have access to data stored in computers issued by the committee that had been destroyed when the bidding process ended. The team largely relied on documents that had been kept by former committee members.

"Personally, I regret we could not interview them. If we could have met Mr. Tan, especially, I'm sure we could have examined what exactly happened in this case," Hayakawa said.

Suspicion about the Black Tidings payment arose in the course of the French investigation into Diack, once one of the most influential men in sports, and his son, who is wanted in France on bribery, money laundering and corruption charges.

Tan is one of Papa Massata Diack's very close friends. Tan named his child, born in 2014, "Massata," according to a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation into Russia's doping scandal.

According to French prosecutors, the payment is thought to have been transferred from Japan to the Singapore account of Black Tidings in two installments in July and October 2013.

The Japanese investigation also found the payment to Tan was made in two installments. The first contract for $950,000 was signed in July 2013 for Tan's lobbying and consulting work and the remainder of the money was transferred to him three months later as a bonus for winning the bid, the report said. The contract did not include a specific reference prohibiting bribery.

Details of the payment procedures were not shared among the committee executives and the lack of communication might have invited suspicions, the report said. It also noted that future bidding activity for international athletic events should pay more attention to transparency and compliance to stricter rules.

Tokyo was chosen in September 2013 as the Olympic host, and the elder Diack, then an International Olympic Committee member, had a vote and influence over blocs of other votes as a high-profile figure in the organization.

The widening of the French probe to the 2020 Olympic bidding process has put heavy pressure on Tokyo organizers and the IOC, which has sought to distance itself from the FIFA and IAAF corruption scandals and insisted that it had cleaned up since a bid scandal over the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

 

AP

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/01/sports/olympics/ap-oly-tokyo-2020-french-probe.html?_r=0

[Faiyez]

Great! That clears that up, then.

[gotosy]

New Japanese Silver Coin Celebrates Olympic Handover to Tokyo in 2020

 

The coins will include a color design on both obverse and reverse sides. The obverse designs include the flags of the Olympic and Paralympic games, surrounded by cherry blossoms representing Japan, as well as the blossoms of the ipê-amarelo-da-serra tree, representing Brazil.

http://news.coinupdate.com/new-japanese-silver-coin-celebrates-olympic-handover-to-tokyo-in-2020/

[TeamBlakeUSA]

The Back Side Has The Emblems.

[gotosy]

Olympic medalists to get October parade in Tokyo

Kyodo

 

Japanese medalists from the Rio Olympics and Paralympics will parade through central Tokyo on Oct. 7 over a 2.5-km course from the Ginza area to the Nihombashi district, a source close to organizers said Wednesday.

The route will be significantly longer than the parade held four years ago after the London Games, when only Olympic medalists took part in the 1-km event in Ginza that attracted about 500,000 spectators.

Before the 11 a.m. start of this year’s parade, officials will hold a ceremony near the Toranomon Hills high-rise complex that houses the Tokyo Games organizing committee, the source said.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike is scheduled to hand the Olympic and Paralympic flags to athletes taking part in the event, according to the source. Koike received the two flags during the respective closing ceremonies of the events in Rio de Janeiro.

The Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Japanese Olympic Committee have decided to hold a joint parade for the country’s Olympians and Paralympians as part of efforts to foster momentum toward 2020.

 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2016/09/21/olympics/olympic-medalists-to-get-october-parade-in-tokyo/#.V-JaETX5YkE

[TorchbearerSydney]

58 minutes ago, gotosy said:

Olympic medalists to get October parade in Tokyo

Kyodo

 

Japanese medalists from the Rio Olympics and Paralympics will parade through central Tokyo on Oct. 7 over a 2.5-km course from the Ginza area to the Nihombashi district, a source close to organizers said Wednesday.

The route will be significantly longer than the parade held four years ago after the London Games, when only Olympic medalists took part in the 1-km event in Ginza that attracted about 500,000 spectators.

Before the 11 a.m. start of this year’s parade, officials will hold a ceremony near the Toranomon Hills high-rise complex that houses the Tokyo Games organizing committee, the source said.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike is scheduled to hand the Olympic and Paralympic flags to athletes taking part in the event, according to the source. Koike received the two flags during the respective closing ceremonies of the events in Rio de Janeiro.

The Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Japanese Olympic Committee have decided to hold a joint parade for the country’s Olympians and Paralympians as part of efforts to foster momentum toward 2020.

 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2016/09/21/olympics/olympic-medalists-to-get-october-parade-in-tokyo/#.V-JaETX5YkE

They could shorten the parade by only including the Japanese Paralympic Gold Medallists..

[gotosy]

 

Olympic, Paralympic flags displayed

 

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Olympic and Paralympic flags are shown at a ceremony in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday.

 

2:18 am, September 23, 2016

The Yomiuri Shimbun The Olympic and Paralympic flags handed over from the recent host city of Rio de Janeiro were displayed at a flag-raising ceremony in Tokyo.

Thirteen Paralympians and Olympians, including weightlifter Hiromi Miyake, who won medals at two consecutive Games in London and Rio, participated in the Wednesday event at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Citizen’s Plaza in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.

“I want to make the success of the Tokyo Games a wonderful present for the next generation. Let’s work together, all of Tokyo and all of Japan,” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said at the ceremony.

The two flags have been kept in the governor’s office since Thursday, but the Tokyo metropolitan government will display replicas throughout Tokyo’s municipalities. The replicas are also scheduled to be displayed at sports events in the areas hit by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

...

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003232680

[gotosy]

Japan Lauds Olympic, Paralympic Athletes at Tokyo Parade

AFP

Japanese Medallists of 2016 Rio Olympics. (Getty Images)

 

Tokyo: Japan cheered Olympic and Paralympic medallists on Friday with a parade through the capital city, attended by thousands of supporters cheering on the 87 athletes, who in total took home 41 medals -- 12 gold, 8 silver and 21 bronze -- from the Rio Games.

Some 800,000 people thronged the streets of the Japanese capital to cheer for the medallists, who waved from open-top buses. The parade rolled off in southern Tokyo's Toranomon district and weaved its way along a 2.5-km stretch through Ginza before arriving in the central Nihombashi area, reports Efe.

 

"It's a chance to thank the athletes and it gives the Japanese people strength and energy," said spectator Eri Ogane, 47, as cited by the Japan Times newspaper.

Japan's medals at the Olympic Games were higher this year than ever before, according to the Japanese Olympic Committee, which notes that in London in 2012, the East Asian nation took home 38 medals.

When medals are ranked in accordance with population and GDP, Japan came in sixth place globally for the gold and has 3.493 medals per million population, scoring highest in artistic gymnastics followed by wrestling and judo, according to the count by sports analytics site PointAfter.

Tokyo will host the world event in 2020 and Japan will be eyeing to better their medal haul on their home turf.

http://www.news18.com/news/olympics/japan-lauds-olympic-paralympic-athletes-at-tokyo-parade-1299512.html

[TeamBlakeUSA]

The Website Still Has Ai Shimamine's Initial Gold Banners.

[timitimi]

Hello!

 

I would like to ask your support for my dissertation, It is about the Super Bowl and Olympics ads. Filling of the questionnaire is about 2 mins. Thank you in advance!

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bokWhbQ_bFhuTad4Ah71OOph3ZoOfPVwJonzgIKRYls/viewform?edit_requested=true

[gotosy]

Olympics: Bach, Koike to set up 4-party review panel on 2020 spending

By Shintaro Kano
TOKYO, Oct. 18, Kyodo

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike agreed Tuesday to form a four-party working group to review escalating expenditures for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

The group, proposed by Bach who said costs will be cut where necessary, will consist of the IOC, the Tokyo Games organizing committee and the metropolitan and central Japanese governments.

The inaugural meeting of the group will be held after Koike decides by the end of this month on the recommendations -- which include potential venue changes -- put forth by her review panel on spending.

"The IOC is ready today," Bach said following their meeting at metropolitan government headquarters, which was made fully open to the media at Koike's urging.

"It is up to the Tokyo metropolitan government then to tell us when they are ready to present a final paper to this four-partite commission so that then it can be discussed."

"And then after this discussion we hopefully have an agreement which is in the interest of everybody who is participating in this effort."

"We do not want to have mottainai," he said, using the Japanese word for wastefulness which he repeated several times during the 40-minute meeting.

Bach, however, reminded Koike not to forget the initial terms on which Tokyo won the hosting rights for the 2020 Games.

"What we also have to respect is the fair competition in which Tokyo won the rights to host the Olympic Games three years ago," Bach said. "Tokyo and Japan won because they presented a very convincing project."

"I think it's in the interests of Japan, the IOC and Tokyo that we do not change the rules of the competition after the election because we all know that the Japanese people and people of Tokyo are reliable partners who are delivering on their commitment."

Koike's team believes the 2020 budget could soar to as much as 3 trillion yen (about $28.8 billion), and the swimming, volleyball and rowing/canoe sprint venues have been targeted as potential cutback sites. The rowing and canoe events are being proposed to be moved to Miyagi Prefecture, which is 400 kilometers away from Tokyo.

The IOC, though, feels the figure of 3 trillion yen is inflated. Bach pointed out that $2 billion have already been saved from Tokyo's very initial budget, with the IOC contributing $1.7 billion in aid.

"That's certainly a figure that seems very large to us," said IOC vice president John Coates, who chairs the coordination commission for Tokyo. "We are very confident that we can work with the governor, we can work with the Tokyo organizing committee and the national government."

"With our experience, we can reduce those figures. We haven't seen any details behind them, but they seem very large to us."

Koike stressed to Bach that she has the public behind her.

"When I won the election (for Tokyo governor) two months ago, I swore to the public the spending for the Olympics and Paralympics needed to be reviewed," Koike said. "Recent polls say more than 80 percent agree with me."

"One of the most important things I put forth when I became governor was transparency. A large section of the public knows how much these venues are costing us."

"If we are using public money, then we must have the consent and understanding of the public."

Koike asked Bach to attend the first meeting of the working group in Tokyo, but did not receive a clear answer from the German, who said the group ought to meet on a "technical level" first.

Bach did not detail how the budget would be reduced, saying he will wait for the verdict from the Koike camp before going into specifics. Yet Bach said Japanese taxpayers will be appeased in the end.

"I'm confident that you will see a significant reduction in the costs compared to what we have seen so far from the press in this interim report."

"We are sitting in one boat together."

==Kyodo

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2016/10/439265.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Faiyez]

The venue changes will end up being approved. 

What are the alternative sites for swimming/volleyball? 

[TeamBlakeUSA]

That Is Going To Be Most Expensive Olympics Ever.

[gotosy]

3 hours ago, Faiyez said:

The venue changes will end up being approved. 

What are the alternative sites for swimming/volleyball? 

 

swimming: a renovate Tatsumi swimming center 

volleyball:Yokohama arena in Kanagawa

Quote

 

五輪の開催費用などを検証している都の調査チームは先月、ほかにも新設を予定している水泳会場のオリンピックアクアティクスセンターを東京辰巳国際水泳場の改修で代替、バレーボール会場の有明アリーナは神奈川・横浜アリーナに移転できるのではないかと提案した。

http://www.excite.co.jp/News/sports_g/20161018/TokyoSports_606660.html

 

 

[olympikfan]

It is time that the IOC really address the of cost of the Olympics. Agenda 2020 was a joke! Rome main issue was Euros. Now Tokyo needs cost cutting, well lets see add more sports is that a cost saving.  And IOC Prez Bach stated Rome lost a billions, well Rome is up a billions because now they don't have to bid. But I have bin posting cost is the the elephant in the room of the Olympics.

[gotosy]

SEGA Acquires Worldwide Rights to Publish Tokyo 2020 Oympics Video Games

 

SEGA announced on its official website on Thursday that it has the sole worldwide rights to distribute sales of video games based on the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. The rights include games on console, PC, handheld, online, and for business use.

SEGA previously published games based on the Olympic Games, including Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (for the Beijing games in 2008), Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (for the Vancouver games in 2010), Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, and Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

 

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-10-27/sega-acquires-worldwide-rights-to-publish-tokyo-2020-oympics-video-games/.108147

[gotosy]

 

Quote

 

Statement from President Carlo Croce and the Board of World Sailing

The President, Carlo Croce, with the support of all Board members, has decided, following his most recent communications with the IOC, that he, as President, shall not propose an alternative Olympic slate to Council in February 2017. This means that World Sailing would propose the existing 10 Events and Equipment for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition.

 

In addition, World Sailing will continue to pursue the possibility of an 11th Medal in 2020 with the IOC on the basis that the total number of athletes remains at 380. Furthermore, World Sailing is also exploring the possibility of a showcase sailing event in Tokyo which if agreed would be over and above the existing athlete quota. The Board believes this strategy best protects existing investments and programmes, whilst enabling World Sailing to demonstrate innovation to the IOC.

The Board will continue to support changes in format and fleet sizes to best meet the objectives of the IOC's Agenda 2020. These decisions will be made in accordance with normal World Sailing processes.

Regarding gender equity, the IOC has confirmed that gender equity in 2020 may be assessed at a "sport level" (i.e. on the basis of total number of athletes in each sport). Hence World Sailing can meet IOC's gender equity requirements in 2020 with appropriate fleet quota changes, within sailing's current 10 Events and can seek to achieve gender equity at an event level by 2024.

 

http://www.sailing.org/news/41219.php#.WCYlkyTF8ks

 

 

[TeamBlakeUSA]

This Is Going To Take A Lot of Progress Before The Games In The Next 4 Years.

[JMarkSnow2012]

On 11/11/2016 at 8:12 PM, gotosy said:

Statement from President Carlo Croce and the Board of World Sailing

The President, Carlo Croce, with the support of all Board members, has decided, following his most recent communications with the IOC, that he, as President, shall not propose an alternative Olympic slate to Council in February 2017. This means that World Sailing would propose the existing 10 Events and Equipment for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition.

 

That raises an issue which, I suspect, will become more apparent if Agenda 2020 ever succeeds in getting the basic staging cost of the Olympics under control. Some sports require huge equipment investment by teams / competitors, which must be adding greatly to the real cost of what we see on screen. Team GB, which tends to go for equipment-heavy sports, will be particularly vulnerable if the flow of medals starts to dry up.