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The International Olympic Committee (IOC)
stunned many Games organizers last month by announcing that the
marathon, one of the most prestigious events at any Olympics and
one especially beloved in Japan, would be moved to the northern
Japanese city of Sapporo to avoid the worst of Tokyo's summer
heat.
The announcement enraged Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, who said
at the beginning of discussions with the IOC on Wednesday that
she still wanted the marathon and race walk events to remain in
the capital.
At the request of IOC delegation leader John Coates,
representatives from the IOC, the 2020 organizing committee, the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government and national government held talks
on Friday aimed at reaching an amicable solution to what has
become a very public spat.
Koike reiterated at the start of Friday's meeting there was no
change in her feelings that the races should stay in Tokyo and
that the IOC explanation still "wasn't sufficient."
"But on these points to make the Olympics a success we need to
build a positive framework going forward," Koike said.
"I don't approve but the decision can't be avoided," she said.
"It's a decision without agreement."
She added that they had agreed Tokyo would not bear extra costs
of the venue move but other points still remained to be worked
out, such as how much of the money Tokyo has spent up to this
point in preparation might be repaid.
Coates said they had agreed at a meeting on Thursday that the
decision on where to hold the marathon and race walk events
rested with the IOC, adding that there would be no other venue
changes in the future.
"We will continue as a one-team effort," he said, referring to
planning with host city Tokyo.
'DIFFICULT DECISION'
In Wednesday's opening remarks to a three-day IOC coordination
visit, Coates had said organizers "owed it to the people of
Tokyo" to clarify any plans over the marathon and race walk and
vowed not to leave Tokyo without a consensus decision over the
events.
Tokyo temperatures in July and August, when the city will host
the Games, regularly exceed 30 degrees Celsius with high
humidity adding to the discomfort.
"We thought it would be possible to do something, but our
opponent was nature," said Tokyo 2020 organizing committee
President Yoshiro Mori, adding that he respected Koike's
"difficult decision."
The IOC is determined not to repeat the experience of the
athletics world championships in Doha, where the heat and
humidity forced many athletes to drop out of the race despite
the marathon being held at midnight.
The IOC has said temperatures in Sapporo, which will also host
soccer games, are as much as five to six degrees cooler during
the day.
Asked at a news conference later on Friday about what he might
say to Tokyo children missing out on the "memory of a lifetime,"
Coates once again cited Doha.
"I'm very aware of the special place marathons have in the minds
of Japanese. We also didn't want bad memories, we didn't want
people to have bad memories of Tokyo," he said.
"We didn't want it to be remembered by some of the scenes we saw
in Doha." Many marathoners at the 2019 World Athletics
Championships in Doha were forced to withdraw from races due
high temperatures and unbearable humidity. Some were carried off
in wheelchairs.
Organizers earlier this year had already moved up the starting
times to 6 a.m. for the marathon and 5:30 a.m. for the race walk
to avoid the midday sun, and Coates said they were considering
moving up the time for some other events, such as equestrian
events.
When Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964, they were held in
October — an option no longer possible due to international
sports schedules.
Next year's Games are set to run from July 24 to Aug. 9, with
the men's marathon to be held on the final day.
(Reporting by Jack Tarrant and Elaine Lies; Writing by Chris
Gallagher; Editing by Stephen Coates and Michael Perry)
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