IOC VP John Coates said that the club scheduled to host golf at the 2020 Tokyo Games "must allow women to have full membership or organizers will have to find another venue," according to Kwiyeon Ha of REUTERS. The private Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama prefecture, which is set to host both men's and women's tournaments in July and Aug. '20, "forbids women from playing on Sundays and excludes them from becoming full members." Coates, who is head of the coordination commission which oversees preparations for the Games, said that "he had only become aware of the issue on his last visit to Tokyo at the end of last year and that organizers were now aware of the IOC's stance." He said, "We made quite clear that there has to be gender equality." Japanese media reported that "members of the club had met on Sunday to hear an explanation of the situation." The club was closed on Monday and "nobody was available to comment." Coates: "They either will or they won't. There's plenty of time to move to another golf course if we have to" (REUTERS, 2/20).
CUTTING COSTS: KYODO reported a Nagano city panel on Monday "called on the mayor to cut costs by closing a bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track used for the 1998 Winter Olympics in the central Japanese city." The panel submitted written proposals to Mayor Hisao Kato, saying that the municipal government "should suspend making ice for the 'Spiral' track" after the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in South Korea. It has been Asia's "only permanent bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track" for int'l competitions. The panel also proposed that the city government "consider renovating the facility as an 'Olympic memorial' to promote greater public use and regional development" (KYODO, 2/20).