At the request of France, Tokyo prosecutors "have questioned Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda and others on a voluntary basis over allegations that dubious payments were made by the bid team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics."
French authorities "have been looking into the payments," which were made under contracts worth more than $2M that Tokyo’s bid team signed with a Singaporean consultancy, Black Tidings.
Black Tidings is headed by Ian Tan Tong Hon, who is "close to" Papa Massata Diack, son of "disgraced" former IAAF President Lamine Diack (KYODO, 2/8).
A countdown clock for the first Winter Olympics to take place in South Korea "was unveiled."
The countdown to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games "will reach one year on Thursday." To celebrate the occasion, Omega, the official Olympic timekeeper, "set up the digital clock at Seoul Plaza in front of the city hall." The clock is 4.3m tall and 4m wide, with the official Olympic logo emblazoned at the top (KOREA HERALD, 2/8).
Kenya "has accepted a court decision overruling last year's order to disband" the National Olympic Committee of Kenya after accusations it had "poorly handled arrangements" for the 2016 Rio Games (REUTERS, 2/7).
