IOC, Tokyo Organizers Review Venue Plans For 2020 Summer Olympics

The IOC and the 2020 Tokyo Games organizers "opened their first on-site meeting on Wednesday to check preparations for the event amid disquiet over soaring costs for some of the venues," according to the AFP. The 16-member IOC coordination commission for the 2020 Summer Olympics "was to hold talks with the organisers and tour some of the proposed venues over three days." The commission, headed by IOC VP John Coates, "will visit Tokyo 10 times before the opening of what the city has promised to be a compact Games with 85 percent of the venues located within an eight-kilometre (five-mile) radius." In an official document submitted to the IOC, Tokyo "has estimated total expenses for venues" at about $1.47B, including the construction of 10 new facilities. But it is feared by some assembly members that "the price will more than double" (AFP, 6/25).