Photo: Kazuhiro Nogi Agence France-Presse
Yasuhiro Yamashita, a former olympic gold medalist in judo, has acknowledged in a press conference that it will be difficult to organise the olympic Games next year.
Stephen Wade – Associated Press and
Koji Ueda – Agence France-Presse
in Tokyo
15 July 2020
- Sports
The president of the japanese olympic Committee has revealed that if Tokyo manages to hold the summer Games next year, the city of Sapporo might be in a good position to organize the olympic winter Games 2030.
Yasuhiro Yamashita, a former olympic gold medalist in judo, has acknowledged in a press conference that it will be difficult to organise the olympic Games next year. And he emphasized that nobody can know the status of the pandemic of sars coronavirus in a few months or next year.
“We have heard many concerns about whether the olympic and paralympic Games can actually take place, as well as suggestions to cancel the Games, said Yamashita. We are currently in a situation that nobody has ever known before and we would like to concentrate on what we need to do now. “
He added that if the “Tokyo olympic Games are held successfully, then we can have a clear perspective of the opportunity to welcome those of 2030” in Sapporo.
The marathons and the race walking athletic of the olympic Games next year have been moved to Sapporo due to the cooler weather. This will give the city in the north of Japan an opportunity to highlight to leaders of the IOC.
Japan has already made known its interest in 2030, but could be in competition with Salt Lake City, or an application in Spanish related to Barcelona and the Pyrenees.
Sapporo hosted the winter olympic Games of 1972 and the Salt Lake has been the host in 2002. Barcelona organised the olympic summer Games of 1992.
Beijing will host the olympic winter Games of 2022, followed in 2026 Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d’ampezzo.
Yamashita also pointed out that he supported the proposals of the organizing committee of Tokyo and the international olympic Committee to “simplify” the olympic Games next year.
Neither the IOC nor the local organizers have not provided details about what will be eliminated. They mentioned that sports events will not be reduced, no more than the quota of 11 000 olympic athletes and 4400 paralympians.
The estimates for Japan suggest that the one-year delay will cost between 2 billion and 6 billion US$, most of the costs to be borne by the taxpayers of japan.
“We won’t win the support of the japanese citizens at least to simplify the game and focus less on the razzle-dazzle and more on efficiency,” said Yamashita.
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