IOC Sports Dir Christophe Dubi said on Friday that organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are to "move or alter three venues," saving around $1B, with "more changes and savings to come," according to Andrew Downie of REUTERS. Dubi said Tokyo had abandoned plans to build a new basketball venue and "would instead hold matches in an existing venue that was used for the world championships." Dressage and show jumping are now to be held in the venue that hosted those events in the 1964 Olympics, while the canoe slalom is to be moved "a few hundred meters" because of "environmental concerns over the original location." Dubi: "At this point in time it is close to a billion (in savings) compared to the revised budget so it is a very substantial figure and it will continue to grow" (REUTERS, 2/27). The JAPAN TIMES reported like Rio, Tokyo has "not escaped controversy on its budget." In recent
months, public protests have been staged against plans to demolish the
National Stadium in Shinjuku Ward's Kasumigaoka area and "replace it with
the huge 80,000-seat stadium designed by British-Iraqi architect Zaha
Hadid." Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee Dir Toshiro Muto said that complaints about the stadium’s size and cost "need to be directed at politicians." Muto: "That is an issue for the government. We will just operate the stadium" (JAPAN TIMES, 2/28). The AP reported the IOC awarded Tokyo the games "partly because it was compact" with 85% of the venues within an 8km radius. IOC Inspection Team Head John Coates said that the changes lowered that number to 66%. But he said Tokyo
was now using 50% existing venues, up from 33% (AP, 2/27).
QUESTIONS REMAIN: REUTERS' Elaine Lies reported officials said the release of the "Games Foundation Plan," which lays out the framework for pulling together an event that will "bring thousands of athletes and spectators" to Tokyo in just more than five years, marked a "key step on the Japanese capital's road from planning to preparation." However, they added that consultations over venues were "still going on and the timing of a final announcement on these remained up in the air." Tokyo 2020 Exec Dir of Games Operations Hisahiro Sugiura said, "At the time of the bid, it's true that we pledged to keep close to 80 percent of the venues within an 8km radius to lighten the burden on athletes. But as we've looked further into the venues from the aspect of cost and the impact on the lives of people in Tokyo and in Japan, the need to rethink this has emerged" (REUTERS, 2/27).
