The IOC on Wednesday "sought to deflect attention from a row over Tokyo's planned National Stadium" by praising organizers for keeping the 2020 Games budget in check, according to the AFP. IOC VP and Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission Chair John Coates said that Tokyo had made "outstanding progress" since the IOC's last visit a year ago, pointing to cuts of $1.7B to projected venue costs and the recent appointment of an Olympics minister. Coates insisted that Tokyo's budget "compared favourably with previous Olympics." Coates: "At the (2000) Sydney Olympics the cost of the new venues was $3.5 billion. By the time we went to Athens the cost was $14 billion and in London (in '12) the cost was $18 billion. The figure we're talking about here in terms of new venues -- after the $1.7 billion that's been saved -- is $2.8 billion. Even with the increased construction costs in this country, because of earthquake regulations etcetera, this is a remarkable figure. The progress to date has been outstanding." Coates "avoided wading into the public row between Tokyo's administration and the central government over funding for the new National Stadium, the centrepiece for the 2020 Olympics and the 2019 rugby World Cup, to be hosted by Japan" (AFP, 7/1).
RIO TICKETS: The second phase of ticket sales for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games began on Wednesday with approximately 3 million seats up for grabs. As with the first phase, only Brazilians and foreigners resident in Brazil will be eligible to take part, and only those who applied in the first round will be able to do so again. The application period will remain open until July 17 and as in the first phase, when the number of applications is larger than the number of tickets available, allocations will be made via a draw. The results of the draw will be released in August (Rio 2016).
