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Securing venues was a top priority for
organizers after the Games were pushed back to 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and Kyodo and NHK, citing unnamed sources,
said they were now confident they would be tied down for
Olympics use again.
However, at his regular weekly news conference, Tokyo 2020
spokesman Masa Takaya said the reports were "optimistic" and
that nothing had been announced.
“We have seen a series of media reports concerning the status of
securing venues for the Games in 2021,” said Takaya.
“Tokyo 2020 is aware of these reports but I need to be very
clear ... this is not something on which Tokyo Metropolitan
Government or the Tokyo organising committee has made a formal
announcement.
“The organising committee has not made such an announcement at
this stage and during this process, it is very unfortunate to
see such reports based on this optimistic view."
Last month, Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said 80% of all venues
needed had been secured, with the Athlete’s Village and Tokyo
Big Sight, the planned media centre, among those yet to be fully
secured.
Thursday's reports also said the competition schedule would
remain largely unchanged and that all tickets holders would be
eligible for refunds, and that organizers would seek approval of
these decisions from the IOC’s General Assembly on July 17.
Asked to confirm those details, Takaya said nothing had been
decided and Tokyo 2020 did not expect to seek approval from the
IOC next week.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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