Thomas Bach (center) visited the Azuma Baseball Stadium with Shinzo Abe (right).GETTY IMAGES
IOC President Thomas Bach said that he wants closer cooperation from Japanese officials to ensure the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are "the cleanest on record in terms of doping," according to Ono & Tarrant of REUTERS. Bach said on Saturday during a visit to Tokyo 2020 venues in Fukushima with Japan PM Shinzo Abe, "What is also important is that we want these Olympic Games to be absolutely clean Olympic Games. Therefore, we would appreciate if we could enjoy closer cooperation with your government, also in this respect in the future." Bach, who was "full of praise for preparations for the Olympics in 20 months' time," said that he wants the Games to be "a great success in every respect, stressing the needs of athletes and keeping to budget among the priorities." He added that he is confident of a balanced budget, which is "good news for organizers who have been under pressure since cuts were made at the end of last year." Bach made the trip to Fukushima to see the Azuma Baseball Stadium, which will host the first events of the Tokyo Games on July 22, 2020. The area was "ravaged" by an earthquake and tsunami in '11. Bach said to Abe, "We are very much impressed about the great progress, the reconstruction and also the mental recovery that the population has made in Fukushima. We are very happy that in this recovery, in this psychological recovery in particular, sport has played an important role" (REUTERS, 11/24).
