Barcelona's City Council "will soon decide whether the city will bid for the 2026 Olympics with Catalan's Pyrenees Mountains." A committee created to make this decision "has concluded its work and in the coming weeks it is expected to present its decision." Although the project "is still alive," a number of sources said that it is "most likely" that the Barcelona City Council ends up deciding not to bid for the 2026 Olympics (LA VANGUARDIA, 1/12).
Japan's Cultural Affairs Agency Head Ryohei Miyata and former professional tennis player Ai Sugiyama are "among 14 people named on a panel to discuss how best to choose the official mascots for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics." Miyata, a metal work artist who serves as commissioner for cultural affairs, "will chair the panel, which also includes members such as TV personality Shoko Nakagawa and Akihiro Hino, president of game software firm Level-5 Inc." The 2020 organizing committee "must present the mascot selection process" to the IOC and the IPC by the end of March (KYODO, 1/12).
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid Committee has joined organizers of the 20 biggest int'l sporting events in France to pledge a shared commitment to delivering environmentally responsible and sustainable major sport events with the signing of a national charter. The charter was developed by the French Ministry of Sport in partnership with World Wildlife Fund France, a strategic partner of the Paris 2024 campaign. It seeks to support the sustainable organization of major sporting events in France and sets out 15 binding principles (Paris 2024).
