Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is "heading for a confrontation" with the IOC and the organizers of the 2020 Olympics over a warning that the Games could cost 3T yen ($30B) -- four times the original estimate -- and a proposal to cancel the construction of three new venues, according to Justin McCurry of the London GUARDIAN. A panel of independent experts formed by Koike to review venues and costs "recently proposed renovating existing venues in Tokyo for volleyball and swimming, and moving the rowing and canoe sprint several hundred miles from the capital." But Int'l Rowing Federation President Jean-Christophe Rolland said that he was "disappointed by the prospect of the venue being moved from Tokyo Bay to the city of Tome in Miyagi." Rolland suggested that the rowing event "should be held, as originally planned, at the Umi no Mori (Sea Forest) venue." He said, "I was very surprised ... to hear about a possible change and, not to say more, a little bit disappointed." Koike, who became Tokyo’s first female governor in July, has "promised to cut wasteful spending and identified the Olympics as one area in which savings could be made." She said, "We cannot impose the negative legacy [of white elephant Olympic venues] on to Tokyo residents. We need to consider other options, such as using temporary facilities, rather than constructing permanent ones." The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori has criticized the proposed venue moves, which would "require the approval of the three sports' respective international federations and the IOC." He said, "At this point, it would be extremely difficult to turn everything upside down from the Japanese side" (GUARDIAN, 10/4).
TENNIS FACILITIES: KYODO reported Int'l Tennis Federation officials visiting Tokyo for the Japan Open said Tuesday that they came out of talks with Koike with "the impression that their sport would escape the worst of the local government's recently announced cost saving measures." ITF President David Haggerty said that Koike certainly "has sport on her mind" and that he felt his organization "would be able to work constructively with her metropolitan government in delivering tennis at the Olympic and Paralympic Games." Asked whether he got assurances that the established plans would "go ahead unchanged," Haggerty said, "We really didn't speak that long, so I don't know. She didn't say, 'Dave, I agree 100 percent and tennis will have everything.' She didn't say that, but I think that she was certainly open-minded about things" (KYODO, 10/4).
