A top IOC official "urged Japan on Tuesday to speed up the troubled construction of Tokyo's new national stadium for delivery by January 2020, but the Japanese minister in charge of the Games cautioned this may not be possible," according to Mari Yamaguchi of the AP. IOC VP John Coates said that "he asked Japan's senior Olympic officials to meet the deadline in order to run a series of tests before the Games open in August 2020." He said, "The stadium has to be available for ceremonies and rehearsals. They need to have the handover to the organizing committee by January 2020." He "emphasized the timing word by word." Japan's Olympic Minister Toshiaki Endo, who was appointed to the post just two months ago, said that "it would be difficult to meet that target because April was already a tight deadline." Endo said, "April (2020) is the target we could barely make, and moving up the schedule further at this point is difficult." He said it was a "heavy request" he could not accept immediately. Endo: "I will seek wisdom from everyone so Japan can finish the construction as quickly as possible and accommodate the request" from the IOC (AP, 8/25).
