The organising committee has informed the IOC of possible revisions to the locations of some of the Games venues and organisers are considering moving certain venues into locations in the Greater Tokyo area, some as far as an hour’s drive from the city centre.
The original Tokyo bid promised a compact Games with the majority of the venues located within a five mile radius of the Olympic village, far more condensed than many recent Games. Only the shooting, modern pentathlon and football events were originally planned to be held outside of the five mile Olympic village zone.
The new plans could see some venues being moved out as far away as the city of Saitama which could result in some considerable transportation headaches. However, organisers have insisted that the revised plans would be made possible with improved transport infrastructure whilst still cutting costs. The IOC has previously praised Tokyo’s venue layout and have been impressed by the city’s progress.
The cost of the Games has been a cause of contention amongst Tokyo’s citizens with protests being held against the new 80,000 seated stadium which will replace the current National Stadium.
Tokyo governor Yoichi Masuzoe has had to defend the new plans and told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan that he has a responsibility to Tokyo taxpayers.
“How can I persuade the taxpayers to pay this kind of money? We are working with the IOC and the various sports federations to make the Games sustainable. Legacy is very important. If you abolish everything after the Games who can accept that?” said Masuzoe.
Tag: IOC
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Tokyo 2020 organisers propose venue relocation
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Bach says Nanjing 2014 can boost Beijing 2022 bid
Beijing, which staged the 2008 Summer Olympics, is up against the Norwegian city of Oslo and Almaty in Kazakhstan for the right to host the 2022 Games, with the IOC set to select the host city on July 31, 2015.
The second edition of the Summer Youth Olympics will conclude on Thursday, and Bach told the Xinhua news agency that Nanjing’s organisation of the event had been “seamless”, echoing the thoughts of Chinese IOC member Yang Yang, who said that Nanjing’s success would lift Beijing’s hopes of becoming the first city to stage the Summer and Winter Olympics.
“Of course it can help,” Bach said. “Nanjing has shown again the excellent way in which China has been able to organise a big event, as well as the friendliness and hospitality of the Chinese people.
“It is a good showcase for China and will, of course, support Beijing’s bid.
“The organisation here [in Nanjing] is flawless. We haven’t had any kinds of problems to solve so we have just been able to enjoy the Games with the athletes, the volunteers and the people of Nanjing.
“It has been a great combination of friendliness and efficiency at the same time. If you have the two together, you are guaranteed to have a successful Games.”
Former IOC President Jacques Rogge said earlier this month that, if Beijing were to be awarded the 2022 Games, he is sure they would “do a very good job”.
Bids for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games will be among the topics discussed by IOC Vice President Sir Craig Reedie and others at the HOST CITY: BID TO WIN conference, which will take place in London on 28th October. Visit www.bidtowin-hostcity.net for more information. -
Berlin and Hamburg outline compact visions for Olympic bids
Under the capital city’s proposals, Berlin would utilise its Olympiastadion – the centrepiece when it last hosted the Games in 1936. Elsewhere, plans focus on the use of land at the still-operational Tegel airport, which will close down when Berlin’s new international airport opens.
Tefel is about a 15-minute drive from the north-west of Berlin city centre, while land at the centrally located and defunct Tempelhof airport would be used alongside a selection of existing sports venues.
Hamburg’s proposal focuses on the Kleiner Grasbrook area, roughly a 10-minute walking distance from the city centre. A newly-built Olympic stadium would be downsized to a 20,000 capacity after the Games and the Athlete’s Village would serve to address Hamburg’s housing shortage.
DOSB president Alfons Hörmann said that the decision to pursue the Olympic Games would have to accommodate any possible bid by the German Football Association (DFB) to host the Uefa Euro 2024 national team championship.
“Following the discussion process we will decide if we apply with Berlin or Hamburg and, where appropriate, at what time for the Olympic Games,” he said. “This will be done in close coordination with our affiliates, for example because of the possible application of the DFB for the European Championship in 2024. It is important to again be aware that we are at the beginning of a long process, whose clear aim is to bring the Olympic Games to Germany. But the crucial prerequisite for this is clear approval of the affected citizens and all social groups.”
A bid from Germany would join a potentially strong field for the 2024 Olympic Games, with Paris, Rome, Baku, Doha, Dubai and Istanbul primed to enter the race alongside a South African bid. The US Olympic Committee is set to put forward one of Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Washington D.C. from its candidate cities.
Munich hosted Germany’s last summer Olympics in 1972, with Berlin having previously hosted in 1936. Berlin entered a bid for the 2000 Games, but was eliminated in the second round of voting with Sydney eventually awarded the event. Hamburg had put itself forward for the 2012 Games only for Leipzig to be chosen as Germany’s candidate. Leipzig was then defeated as the event went to London.
The DOSB has yet to announce a deadline over a decision on which city to back or if Germany will target the 2024 Games or the next edition in 2028. -
Budapest mayor shoots down talk of Olympic bid
Tarlós is running for re-election on October 12 and was responding to a question regarding a potential Olympic bid from his main rival, opposition centre-left candidate Ferenc Falus. Tarlós said, according to the Budapest Business Journal, that although the summer Games would have a major impact on tourism and sport in the Hungarian capital, now is not the right time to proceed with such a plan.
Tarlós’ comments come after MOB president Zsolt Borkai last week lent his backing to a possible Budapest bid for the 2024 Games, stating that “concrete steps” could be taken in the near future towards formalising an offer.
While acknowledging that the Committee still has a long road to travel before a formal bid, Borkai had added that “our intentions are unequivocal – we would like to host the best athletes in the world in Budapest”. Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, head of BOM, a non-profit group of corporations and individuals backing an Olympic bid, said that while a bid for the 2028 Games would be “realistic,” the possibility of trying for 2024 “would not be surprising”.
Budapest has previously bid for five editions of the Games, but Hungary has never been awarded the Olympics.
Formal bidding for the 2024 Olympics will begin in 2015, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to select a host city in 2017.
To find out more about bidding for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net. -
Hungary moves closer to 2024 Budapest Olympics bid
Borkai told the MOB’s official website that the Committee still has a long road to travel before a formal bid, but added that “our intentions are unequivocal – we would like to host the best athletes in the world in Budapest”.
The Associated Press news agency added that Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, head of BOM, a non-profit group of corporations and individuals backing an Olympic bid, said that while a bid for the 2028 Games would be “realistic,” the possibility of trying for 2024 “would not be surprising”.
The Hungarian city of Gy?r is due to host the summer edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2017 and Borkai believes the event can aid the country’s claims for the 2024 Olympics.
He added: “Gy?r’s 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival can prove that our country can successfully conduct a major multi-sport Olympic event, even if its size does not compare to an Olympics. We are confident that Gy?r can provide a positive impression on international public opinion, and make everyone aware that they should invest their trust in us.”
Budapest has previously bid for five editions of the Games, but Hungary has never been awarded the Olympics.
Paris, Rome, Baku, Doha, Dubai and Istanbul, along with a South African bid, are among those that could enter the race for the 2024 Games.
Germany is weighing up whether to put forward Berlin or Hamburg, while the US Olympic Committee has identified Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C. as candidate cities.
Formal bidding for the 2024 Olympics will begin in 2015, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to select a host city in 2017.
To find out more about bidding for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net. -
Buenos Aires making ‘impressive headway’ with Youth Olympics plans
The first visit of the IOC Coordination Commission – headed by four-time Olympian and IOC member Frank Fredericks – concluded on Sunday with the local organising committee (BAYOGOC) presenting its plans to bring sport to the inner city, in particular the 2.6 million young people residing in Buenos Aires.
Fredericks said: “Under the expert guidance of CEO Leandro Larrosa, the organisers have really understood the true spirit of the Youth Olympic Games – to put young people at its heart. Thanks to the close cooperation Buenos Aires 2018 has with the all levels of government and the Argentinian Olympic Committee (AOC), the organisation has made impressive headway with strong foundation plans already underway. With its world-famous passion for sport and culture, we truly believe that Buenos Aires will deliver a phenomenal Youth Olympic Games.”
The IOC said “significant progress” has been made on the venue masterplan with a proposed four-cluster concept grouping the sports in a compact framework. In a bid to reflect the culture and spirit of the city, Buenos Aires 2018 has put forward a festival-style concept to feature in each cluster.
Taking inspiration from the ‘Sports Lab’ inaugurated at this year’s edition of the Games in the Chinese city of Nanjing, these festivals will not only showcase and offer sporting experiences to the visitors, but will also provide family entertainment and cultural activities.
Three major development projects will get underway in 2015 including tenders out for the athletics and aquatic venues and the construction of the Youth Olympic Village (YOV) which will begin early next year.
The YOV will be situated in the south of the city, an area of Buenos Aires targeted by the local government in need of urban development. From the YOV, 65 per cent of the athletes will be able to walk to their competition venues. In addition, with the recent launch of the city’s metro-bus link, the IOC said that “excellent” transport links are already in place.
The IOC also said Buenos Aires 2018 has already made “fast progress” by not only discussing the project with the national federations, but using their time in Nanjing this summer to meet with almost all of the international federations to present their preliminary proposals for sport competitions.
Larrosa added: “This is a life-changing project, not only for young athletes, but for future generations in Argentina and we are happy in the knowledge that the IOC Coordination Commission will be by our side to guide us throughout this exciting process. There is a great social legacy we want to achieve with this Games, we want to get all our kids into sport and inspire kids around the world to do the same.”
Buenos Aires was awarded the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in July 2013. The city beat Colombian city Medellin by 49 to 39 in the second round of voting by IOC members. In the first round, Scottish city Glasgow was eliminated after getting only 13 votes, compared to 40 for Buenos Aires and 32 for Medellin. -
Rio 2016’s golf course will be ready, states IOC’s Felli
The new golf course that is being developed for Rio 2016 has proved a controversial project owing to its location, speed of development and the fact the city already has a course that has hosted major events.
The course is being developed in a nature reserve located in the Barra da Tijuca area of the city, a suburb that is also well known for its expensive real estate. Plans for the course include the construction of 160 high-end apartments that are selling for as much as $7m (€5.5m).
Judge Eduardo Klasner said in a hearing last week that the defendants – the city and the developer – and the public prosecutor must find a way to protect the nature reserve with construction to be halted if a compromise is not reached.
The prosecutor has requested that a number of holes on the course be altered and has asked the developer to return some of the land to the ecological reserve. Judge Klasner has allowed sodding on the course to continue, but the facility must be completed before the Brazilian summer begins in December, with no imminent ruling on the case expected.
Felli in April was deployed by the IOC as a senior troubleshooter for Rio 2016 and said he is confident the ongoing troubles will not stop a test event from taking place ahead of the Games, either late in 2015 or early in 2016.
“Our understanding today is that we will be ready for the first test event which will be needed to be done for the golf,” Felli told the Associated Press news agency. “We are satisfied on the progress we see today. But we are not playing tomorrow. We know that we are going to play for the test event.”
Carlos Nuzman, head of the Rio 2016 organising committee and president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, said the matter is now in the hands of the city and Mayor Eduardo Paes. “Golf will be in the Olympics,” Nuzman said. “The city is responsible for the golf course.”
Rio 2016 last week stepped up its preparations for the Olympics by unveiling its ticketing strategy. More than half of the tickets available for the summer Games will be priced at less than R70 (€24/$31). -
Sir Craig Reedie’s respect and regret for Oslo
The exit of yet another European city yesterday from the bidding contest for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games is regrettable, but the remaining candidates are strong and the bidding procedure is still the best in the world, IOC Vice President Craig Reedie told HOST CITY on Thursday.
“I regret the Oslo decision. But it’s their call and you have to respect their decision,” he said. “It would have been nice to have a Games in Oslo, in a real centre of winter sport.”
On Wednesday Oslo followed Stockholm, Krakow and Lviv in retracting its candidature for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, leaving Beijing and Almaty as the remaining candidates. Munich and St. Moritz had withdrawn from the race before the applicant stage.
The party with the largest membership in Norway’s coalition government failed to gain a majority support for Oslo’s bid, with cost being cited as the primary concern – despite the country’s large sovereign wealth fund and a plan to use existing winter sports infrastructure.
“A number of cities decided not to go ahead because of domestic decisions taken in those countries, which were presented on the basis of a whole range of issues, some of which were cost,” Sir Craig Reedie told HOST CITY.
“I’m not sure that cost was a particular item in Munich’s decision or if people decided to do something else with their time and their efforts. If that’s the case then certainly the IOC has to look at the situation closely and find out if what they are currently doing is sustainable.
“There is an obligation on the IOC to present the benefits in a better way. We really have to prove that the recent Games have in the main all broken even with a small surplus. London was a good example – a small surplus run by a private company. And the infrastructure and stadium costs built by public money came in below the original estimates and will last for generations.
“We need to get that message across, so that future cities who are considering bids understand the difference. And the IOC makes an enormous contribution to the organising committee’s budget: the estimate for the 2022 Games was US$880.”
Reedie is confident that Beijing and Almaty are good potential host cities. “They passed the examination of the technical working group; they went from candidate city to applicant city. We’ve had a good hard look at them; with certain minor modifications, I think the technical people in the IOC are happy that good Winter Games can be had in both.”
There is no risk of Beijing or Almaty withdrawing due to cost concerns. “Neither of the other two cities have a financial issue,” Reedie said.
“The Chinese say they have a very happy memory of the Beijing Games and they can see doing it again. The Youth Games in Nanjing were terrific; they are clearly very committed to the Olympic movement and see the opportunity of developing winter sport in their country.
“In Kazakhstan they see the opportunity of the Games being a catalyst for their city and country, in a way that nothing else ever could be.
“So I pretty certain that they both will go ahead and impress the evaluation commission; they will produce good bid books and we’ll have good contest to decide in Kuala Lumpur.”
The bidding process will not change – yet
The bidding process for the 2022 Games will not change even though there are just two candidates left.
“You can’t change the rules of the game halfway through the game simply because one city has decided not to go ahead. So we’re happy to have both of them,” Sir Craig Reedie told HOST CITY.
How the IOC will run its bidding process beyond 2022 is currently under review, as part of the Olympic Agenda 2020.
One suggestion made by four European National Olympic Committees was that the recommendations of evaluation commissions should count as votes in the host city elections. “Having chaired the last evaluation commission, I thought our report was very accurate and we pointed out plusses and minuses for all three cities, so nobody could remotely say they hadn’t been informed,” said Reedie.
“That said, one of the strengths that the IOC has is that 100 plus members actually decide, and when you’ve got that number of people deciding, you are probably on a much safer basis in terms of the quality of the decision.
“I think at the moment the IOC has the best election process in world sport. People may think that’s a funny thing to say when a perfectly valid potential city has withdrawn, but it’s just as valid now as it was yesterday. It is an excellent and highly authoritative system. Now whether that system will proceed going forward is what we are going to discuss over the next few months, and no doubt we will discuss in London on 28th October.
To read the full interview with Sir Craig Reedie, read the next issue of HOST CITY magazine – or better still, register for Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net and join in the discussion on 28th October
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Rio 2016’s full speed progress satisfies IOC
In a marked contrast to its previous assessment, the IOC coordination commission has left Rio de Janeiro confident that Games preparations are back on track.
Over three days, the monitoring authority noted crucial improvements to venue works, public engagement and the support and coordination of the government. However, the timeframes for finishing construction and accommodation are particularly pressing, the commission observed.
“We leave Rio satisfied with the progress that has been made since our visit last March,” said Nawal El Moutawakel, chair of the commission. “We remain confident that, despite a very tight schedule, our Brazilian partners will deliver successful Games.”
The commission scrutinised the construction of venues and hotels particularly closely during the visit. “Although the schedule remains tight, the Rio team clearly demonstrated that they had the situation under control, with good progress being made,” the IOC said in a statement.
“Accommodation was always going to be a challenge with the large number of hotels that have to be built ahead of the Games, but very clear and reassuring information was provided to the Commission that the 68 new hotels under construction were on track.”
Moutawakel said “As we enter the final two years of preparations, we are able to see that the core works are progressing at full speed, particularly in venue construction, where we have been receiving solid development reports. We were also able to see first-hand the advancements being made, during our venue tour on Tuesday.”
The commission visited the Olympic Golf Course, the Olympic Village, the Deodoro Olympic Park, and the Barra Olympic Park, where they were joined by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
“The strong commitment of the Brazilian authorities to the success of the Rio 2016 Games has been underlined to us by the presence of President Rousseff during our visit to the Olympic Park yesterday,” said Moutawakel.
Other government partners that met with the IOC commission included Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, Governor Luiz Fernando Pezão, and General Fernando Azevedo E Silva from the Olympic Public Authority (APO).
The commission heard that five times more was being invested in city development projects than in venue construction, with three bus rapid transit lines, a new metro, improved sanitation system coverage, better flood control, a city operations centre, and the regeneration of the city’s port area underway.
Despite the country’s descent into recession this year, the coordination commission was told that a large part of Games and civic infrastructure projects are being financed by private funds.
“With the IOC’s guidance and the help of our sponsors, we have the confidence we need,” said Carlos Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 organising committee. “It is very rewarding when we look around and see our partners from the city, state and federal governments, building the Games with us.”
The commission was also encouraged by marketing activities. “Rio 2016 has begun to engage in earnest with the public this winter and we were able to take stock of what has already been done,” said Moutawakel. “We were pleased to hear that this engagement will continue with upcoming events like ticket sign-up, mascot launch, the Cultural Olympiad and test events.”
The IOC statement described the test event schedule, which will feature more than 40 events in 2015 and early 2016, as “ambitious”, noting that the organising committee is “advancing full speed ahead towards these events”.
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Argentina looks to Olympic Games bid
The COA is currently pressing ahead with preparations for Buenos Aires’ staging of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, with the event being seen as a potential springboard for a tilt at the Olympic Games itself.
In a statement, the COA said that it would be “an honour” to bid for either edition of the Games and pinpointed Patagonia, utilising the Andes Mountains, as a potential option for a winter Olympics.
An Argentine winter Olympics would break new ground for the International Olympic Committee, with the event having never previously set foot outside the Northern Hemisphere.
Argentina’s last bid for the summer Games saw Buenos Aires eliminated in the first round of voting as Athens went on to clinch the 2004 event. The Games will take to South America for the first time in 2016 when Rio de Janeiro hosts the event in Argentina’s regional rival, Brazil.
The COA’s statement comes after the IOC last week praised Buenos Aires’ hosting plans for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, which will focus on engaging with the city’s sizeable inner-city population. The IOC stated that the city had already made “impressive headway” in its preparations for the event, which concluded its second edition in Nanjing, China on August 28.
Buenos Aires was awarded the 2018 Youth Olympics in July 2013. The city beat Colombian city Medellin by 49 to 39 votes in the second round of voting by IOC members. In the first round, Scottish city Glasgow was eliminated after getting only 13 votes, compared to 40 for Buenos Aires and 32 for Medellin.