Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020, believes the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games will provide “valuable experience” in the build-up to Tokyo 2020.
The Olympic Council of Asia’s 8th Asian Winter Games opened at the Sapporo Dome in February featuring five sports, 11 disciplines and 64 events at 12 competition venues.
Mori said: “It is a great honour for Japan to be able to host such a prestigious event as the Asian Winter Games for the fourth time. The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee would like to welcome and wish the best of luck to the athletes from 32 countries and regions who are competing at this birthplace of the Asian Winter Games.
“We would also like to send our best wishes to the organisers who will be able to showcase the best of what Sapporo and Japan have to offer: world-class facilities, a centuries-old culture imbued with a modern and cosmopolitan spirit, as well as a unique Japanese kind of hospitality we call ‘omotenashi’.”
A record 1,200 athletes and 32 National Olympic Committees competed in Sapporo 2017 and Mori added that the logistics behind the Asian Winter Games are important for Tokyo 2020 preparations.
Mori said: “For Tokyo 2020, the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games offers the experts we are engaging in various fields, from transportation to medical services, media operations and venue management, an opportunity to gain valuable experience in advance of the Tokyo 2020 Games.
“For international delegations and sports fans, they also offer a foretaste of the experience that awaits them at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Tag: Olympic Games
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Sapporo 2017 will provide ‘valuable experience’ for Tokyo 2020
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Using major events as a springboard for sustainable urban innovation
Public scepticism about the value of major events such as the Olympic Games is at an all-time high. A continued era of austerity, economic and political uncertainty means that the parties driving such events have to work even harder to justify their value.
While this may sound daunting for some, when cities step back and look at the bigger picture they will realise that major events like this are more relevant than they have ever been. They represent the very confidence in our urban futures that we need to pull us through challenging times. They’re expressions of multi-cultural unity, open-mindedness, acceptance and cooperation. Their successful delivery has the power to re-invent the image of a country, accelerate and transform cities at a record-breaking pace.
To deliver this potential it is imperative that these events are seen as being primarily for the hosts’ and their citizens’ benefit, and align perfectly with their longer-term ambitions. In this context they can be presented to host citizens as accelerants to pre-existing ambitions and expressions of their hosts’ confidence and clarity of purpose.
Recent Arup-led research conducted for the Cities Alive: Rethinking legacy for host cities report, highlighted three tactics that are likely to have greatest impact in achieving this:‘Urban overlay’: mapping the city’s ambitions and accelerating change through its neighbourhoods and streets. At its heart the approach takes the event as an accelerant in realising a city’s longer-term ambitions. In the same way that overlay design is used to create the ‘look and feel’ of an event, the event itself is used to create the ‘look, feel and function’ of the future city.
Operational excellence: transforming city management and embedding highly efficient Games time organisational models to increase future resilience
Cleaner and greener infrastructure: inspiring and accelerating action to tackle climate change by developing hard and soft ‘climate ready’ infrastructureWith eyes turning to Paris and LA as the hosts of the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games, its time to consider how cities may evolve their approach to hosting, to ensure Games are delivered cost effectively, while leaving a lasting, positive legacy for their communities.
Closer to the action through virtual reality and live sites
The London 2012 Live Sites generated real excitement and enabled more people to get into the spirit of the Games. Advances in hand-held technology, virtual reality and streaming media will enable spectators to tune into any number of live sports, get guided tours of venues or experience being at the virtual trackside with their favourite athletes. Formula-e Motor Racing is a great example, with the use of 360-degree cameras, live streaming of races, almost instant highlights and even the opportunity for fans to ‘vote’ to give their favourite drivers an additional boost of power.
Flexible, temporary venues
Most major event venues will be temporary in the future, allowing land to be swiftly released for redevelopment after the Games. More affordable – off-the-shelf or pre-engineered sporting venues will significantly reduce cost. Reduced venue capacities can also bring significant savings, with smaller facilities resulting in fuller capacities and a better atmosphere for fans.
New financial models
Cities are cautious about bidding for major sporting events, with Boston, Hamburg, Rome and Budapest pulling out of the running for the Olympics and Los Angeles seeking an advance from the International Olympic Committee. New ‘value’ focussed financial models are emerging, which should be encouraged. Investment in regeneration can drive huge increases in surrounding land values. This model would see a percentage of this increased land value returned and put towards the cost of infrastructure. Another approach is tax increment financing (TIFs), which diverts future property tax revenues towards upfront infrastructure investment.
Streamlined transport
The greatest single risk to the successful legacy of a major event is the potential disruption it can bring to the daily life of a host city. A combination of new technologies, greater use of data and more effective management will reduce cost, improve experiences for residents and visitors and strengthen the long-term resilience of host cities. Examples include the idea of ‘logistics hubs’ outside city centres, where deliveries can be consolidated so that they minimise the number of trips required, reduce emissions and congestion and load packages onto smaller, electric vehicles. London 2012 also saw the adoption of a highly efficient multimodal ‘transport coordination centre’, as well as greater use of travel planning apps. Arup expects most host cities to explore ways of using predictive modelling tools, data analysis, mobile apps and live updates to deliver smooth running transport and logistics.
Creating a resilient legacy
Cities should see the Games as a catalyst to help them tackle the major challenges they are facing – such as rising air pollution; energy shortages; housing shortages and an increasing number of extreme weather events. Rather than focusing on event related sustainability outcomes, such as reducing energy use during sporting events – the report recommends it is used as an opportunity to scale up and accelerate ambitions having a long-term impact. For example, this could involve helping cities establish their own localised energy, cooling and water systems.
Large scale sporting events have huge potential to act as change catalysts for cities, helping them to tackle the major challenges facing them – from rising air pollution and carbon reduction, to housing shortages. For too long legacy has been viewed narrowly, with the emphasis on the physical structures left behind. We need to think about how we build institutional muscle power – able to deliver benefits before, during and after the events. The real prize of the games should be the opportunity for cities to scale up and accelerate ambitions that have a long-term impact.
The above presents a distillation of Arup’s Cities Alive: Rethinking legacy for host cities report. -
“We should speak out more about the benefits of hosting the Games”
I have the pleasure of welcoming you all to my host city for the third time – and seeing how this event has developed and grown over the years.
The overall theme for this year is “High impact events in the current climate” and there are a number of very qualified people to speak about this today and tomorrow – not least my colleagues from the International Olympic Committee in the first two panels.
The recent change by the IOC to award two summer Olympic Games at the same time to Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028 certainly covers the phrase “High Impact Events” – and you will hear from two absolute experts in that decision – Patrick Baumann who chaired the IOC Evaluation Commission and Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games Executive Director. You will also hear from David Grevemberg, who ran the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
I used to know what I thought was a lot about the IOC bidding process, having served on three Evaluation and two Coordination Commissions – and then bidding twice with Manchester and once with London as we tried to convince the IOC of the joys of our case – and thankfully, one of these efforts worked.
I have been increasingly concerned that the IOC bidding process seems to be directed at how the process can be made shorter, cheaper and more accommodating. Perhaps we should also be prepared to speak out rather more about the huge benefits of hosting the Games that can be delivered by a well organised combination of political, organisational and sporting skills.
I am not going to repeat the huge benefits from London 2012 – and echoed in many ways by the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – where the development of village, infrastructure and sports facilities provide legacy benefits for generations to come. But I was hugely encouraged by a recent report from the Mayor of London in October to the effect that East London – the home of the 2012 Games – is the fastest growing part of London as the “Olympic effect” continues to attract jobs and investment. This report reveals that an extra 110,000 jobs have been created in East London since the Games, more than three times the number forecast in 2012. This boom is expected to continue with an additional 125,000 jobs across the six Olympic Boroughs by 2030.
This can only be described as high impact and I can only hope that any city or National Olympic Committee thinking of entering the Olympic Bidding race might well look at the London experience, as well as making full use of the revised IOC candidature process to fit the Games into their own long-term planning. Glasgow also has a terrific record of bidding for and organising individual World and European Championships – perhaps most recently World Badminton and World Gymnastics, the best presentation of indoor sport I have ever seen.
You will all have the opportunity to study the context of this debate over the next day and a half with panels and discussions on practically every aspect – the size of the city, safety, technology, entertainment and many others. It should be interesting in the extreme and I am sure that Glasgow will be listening and paying full attention. And Glasgow should, because Host City is set to come back to Glasgow in 2018 – and expect even more interest and attendance than this year which is the best attended yet.
Welcome back and enjoy.
This article is edited from Sir Craig Reedie OBE’s opening address to Host City 2017 in Glasgow on 28th November 2017 -
Mega sporting events and human rights: the key role of host cities
In the months since Rio hosted the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, we have seen sport’s international governing bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee, FIFA or UEFA, take some important first steps. Indeed, all three of these governing bodies, as well as the Commonwealth Games Federation, have made progress on the path of integrating Human Rights as a due consideration when rolling out their processes, in particular in connection with mega sporting events.
For example, EURO 2024, the Paris 2024 Olympics and the 2026 World Cup are all events in which framing documents (such as bidding criteria or host city contracts) must now include an explicit reference to the responsibility of organisers to respect human rights, whilst setting up and delivering the event. Terre des Hommes and its Children Win campaign have worked in coalition with other key civil society organisations to get the sport governing bodies to engage in taking these first steps.
What do we mean by incorporating human rights into the planning and delivery of mega sporting events? Well, this should imply that when constructing sports infrastructure for the event, workers are duly paid, have decent working schedules and conditions. It should imply that supply chains are free from child labour. Or, when communities and families are evicted and moved to a new location to make way for sporting facilities, that the process should not violate child rights – for example, by ensuring proper access to schools and health centres in the new location.
It is important to understand that the prevention of human rights and child rights violations, as well as respect of anti-corruption standards, are both key elements when considering the social components of ‘sustainability’. Usually understood in the context of its economic and environmental aspects, social sustainability has begun to gather momentum and importance over the last two years when debating the ‘sustainability’ of sporting events.
Take a moment to reflect on this. If an event lasting three or four weeks has life-changing consequences for many thousands of people, surely it should be organised in a way that reduces the negative impact to the minimum.
Therefore these changes on paper, in the documents I have described previously, are vitally important – but, let us be clear, they only constitute the start of the journey. And, one could add, the easiest part of it.
To have the desired positive impact on the ground, for the affected groups such as workers, children or communities, the new provision in contracts and bidding documents needs to be translated into concrete decisions aiming at identifying the risks in terms of human and child rights, at taking the necessary measures to mitigate such risks, and finally ensuring that victims of potential violations get proper reparation. Stakeholders involved in the organisation of mega sporting events are certainly familiar with such processes of risk assessment and management. What many actors are now requesting from sport governing bodies is that these should be applied in the area of the stakeholders’ responsibility to respect human rights.
We must engage in dialogue with the governing bodies at a global level in order to bring about these changes. As already mentioned, this is producing results. However, this strategy must be complemented at a national and local level in order to be truly effective. Indeed, it is the host cities and/or the national sport organisations who make the decisions that really change the lives of people impacted by mega sporting events. Thus, having host cities sensitised to the importance of human rights and anti-corruption should be non-negotiable when seeking the effective implementation of such a framework.
Processes at ground level have already started. The involvement of stakeholders including communities or trade unions are, for example, foreseen in the frame of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The same applies in the preparation of the bid for Euro 2024, where cities hosting matches will be required to take into account the new human rights requirements – including labour and child rights – designed by UEFA in its bidding documents of May 2017.
It is important that the work at global level is reinforced by implementing strategies at national and local level. Initiatives at both levels should be mutually supporting each other.
The implementation of human rights due diligence by organisers of mega sporting events in particular – and the world of sports in general – is now at an important crossroads. Sport governing bodies have to show that all this is not only about having good intentions and nice words on paper but also thoughtful, concrete and accountable ways of implementation.
For this reason, there still needs to be a reality check. Local stakeholders such as host cities, national sports federations or impacted communities have an important role to play to make the commitment to human rights due diligence become a reality.
This article was written by Terre des Hommes for the Winter 2017 edition of Host City magazine -
IOC must watch the size of the Games
After two successive Olympic bidding contests in which the number of cities in the race fell to just two, the head of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) says hard work is needed to make it more appealing to host the Games.
The IOC’s 2022 and 2024 bid races were blighted with cities dropping out – some due to defeats in referendums – resulting in Beijing beating Almaty to win hosting rights for the Winter Olympics and the double awarding of the next two summer Games to Paris and Los Angeles.
Ricci Bitti acknowledged the growing problems in perceptions of Olympic Games costs and a that there is a “trend” for taxpayers’ to withdraw from the prospect of paying the millions and billions of dollars perceived to be necessary to bid for and stage the IOC’s showpiece.
“People don’t get it immediately with a big event. They prefer that public authorities invest in something else,” he said.
“So we have to do a big effort in communication. I joke that we have a very rich product in the Olympic Games – that no one wants. We have to work on that.
“There are three big factors to try to solve this problem. To change the bid procedures… and the IOC is working very hard on that, to work and interact in the invitation phase. Secondly, the vision to reduce the cost of the Games. The president of the IOC has given a target to reduce $1bn in the cost of the summer games, $500,000 for winter.
“The third one is not on the table at the moment but should be in the near future – to monitor the size of the Games. I was in Gold Coast at the Commonwealth Games and you see that the size is more manageable.
“I think the model of the Games has to be considered very soon because the Olympics is getting very big.”
But this will be some way off, following the increase in the number of sports from 28 to 33 for the Tokyo Olympics. While the IOC continues to revamp the Olympic bidding concept, Ricci Bitti and ASOIF are getting down to the business of helping 2020 Games organisers deliver successful sports competitions.
This article, based on an exclusive interview by Host City at SportAccord Convention in Bangkok, was first published in the Summer edition of Host City magazine. -
Aggreko awarded $200m contract to power Tokyo 2020 Olympics
[Source: Aggreko] Aggreko plc, the global leader in the rental of power, heating and cooling, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Aggreko Events Services Japan Limited (‘AESJL’) has been awarded the supply contract in the category of ‘Temporary Electricity Generation’ by The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
As part of the supply contract AESJL will provide temporary electricity (generation and distribution) systems to support the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. AESJL’s extended scope of supply includes temporary medium and low voltage power systems across 43 competition venues, the Athletes Village and the International Broadcast Centre, ensuring reliable power for all stakeholders in the venues and uninterrupted television broadcast to millions of viewers.
The value of the supply contract is expected to be in the region of $200m, and reinforces Aggreko’s confidence in its ability to achieve its mid-teens ROCE target in 2020.
Aggreko has a proven track record in supporting high profile events including this year’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, European Championships in Glasgow and Ryder Cup in France.
Chris Weston, Chief Executive Officer said: “We are delighted to have secured what is one of the most prestigious event contracts won by Aggreko. Our experienced team will support the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee to ensure our role in the success of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games is flawlessly delivered.” -
EXCLUSIVE: The IOC’s dynamic new approach to future hosts
Host City: Congratulations on your appointment as chair of the recently formed Future Host Commission. What is the Commission’s primary role?
Kristin Kloster Aasen: First of all, I am honoured and excited to have been appointed to chair the Future Host Commission for the Olympic Games and YOG (Summer). Together with the other members of the Commission, who each hold important expertise and knowledge and the support of the highly skilled IOC Olympic Games Department and Future Olympic Hosts team, we will do our best to fulfil the mandate of the Commission provided to us.
The Future Host Commissions, one for summer and one for winter Games, have been established (approved by the IOC Session in June 2019) to undertake a whole new approach to electing future hosts of the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games, advising and providing recommendations to the IOC Executive Board in this regard.
The overarching goal is to ensure that the Olympic Games may be fully aligned with future hosts’ long-term development plans. And that a dynamic and engaging new approach will benefit future hosts and provide the best possible Games for the athletes and participants.
The Future Host Commissions will oversee interest in future Games by establishing a permanent, non-edition-specific dialogue to explore interest among cities/regions/ countries and National Olympic Committees. This means that “host” does not necessarily refer to a single city as in the past but opens the door to multiple cities, regions and countries. Election timings are now flexible and adjusted to local opportunities and context – meaning that the former seven-year rule no longer applies.
This “Continuous Dialogue” as we call it is non-committal for both parties and will not require the interested parties to submit any reports. And this alone will contribute to cost reduction for the city/region/country as well as the NOC. The Commissions will monitor and analyse the projects, provide feasibility assessments, the results of which will form the basis for recommendations to the IOC Executive Board. The Commissions will report regularly to the Executive Board.
When the Executive Board makes a strategic decision to move forward with one or more Preferred Host(s) for a specific edition of the Games, this defines the start of a “Targeted Dialogue.”
At this time the preferred host(s) will be asked to submit a set of streamlined documents, including guarantees. The requirements and timelines will be the same for all preferred hosts. The Future Host Commissions will continue our work by making more detailed evaluations of the projects. This part is similar to the previous “Candidature Process”.
It is the responsibility of the Executive Board to put forward one or more preferred hosts for election at the IOC Session. Meaning that the IOC Membership will continue to be the final decision-makers on future hosts of the Olympic Games.
Host City: The Olympic bidding process now starts with an “invitation phase”. Who takes the initiative here – does the IOC identify and contact suitable cities, or do cities tend to come to you? Who is invited and how?
Kristin Kloster Aasen: The role of the Commissions is to permanently explore, monitor and encourage interest in future Olympic Games, Olympic Winter Games and Youth Olympic Games.
I believe it is likely that the initiative to the dialogue will arise from the interested parties themselves. However, referring to the role of the Commissions, the IOC has laid the foundation for a dynamic and open approach working both ways.
Host City: Some regions are already looking to bid – Queensland and Rhine-Ruhr, for example. What advantages might a regional bid have over a city bid – and would national, or even international bids be conceivable in the future?
Kristin Kloster Aasen: Sustainability is one of the pillars of IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms. Therefore, we now say that new permanent venues should only be considered by a host if they align with the long-term plans of the local community. When this is not the case, the most suitable existing venue should be used, even if located in different cities, regions or countries.
The door is open for any interested party however way they chose to form. There is no “one size fits all” solution. We now provide the flexibility for Games projects to adapt to the future objectives of the hosts, and the best ones will be those that most successfully achieve this goal. However, the NOC of the country in question is of course still key.
Host City: What would you say is the most important issue facing the major event hosting sector today, and what needs to be done to address this issue?
Kristin Kloster Aasen: Whereas the Future Host Commissions will monitor and promote interest in future Olympic Games, they will also study long-term challenges facing the Olympic Games, such as climate change and legacy use of competition venues, in which the IOC Sustainability and Legacy strategies will play an important part.
The new election approach will increase IOC flexibility, and enable us and interested parties to better react to various developments and opportunities such as geographic, strategic, economic and societal.
Host City: What was your impression of Lausanne 2020 – how is the Youth Olympic Games developing as an event?
Kristin Kloster Aasen: Visiting Lausanne 2020 was a fantastic experience. These Winter YOG have manifested themselves as unique, sustainable and inspiring Games; by, for and with youth.
The concept of the use of several locations for venues, use of a unique public transport network for athletes, support personnel and spectators really highlight a modern approach in line with the ambitions set out in Olympic Agenda 2020.
The number of spectators at every venue and competition I visited was impressive and gave the Games a real feeling of home support for the Swiss (and French) people. Also, Lausanne which is normally a quiet city was full of life and young people every day. Great fun!
Host City: How are sports at Tokyo 2020 reflecting a new focus on young and urban audiences?
Kristin Kloster Aasen: The Olympic Games are more urban, more youthful and more gender balanced than ever before. Not only are new sports and disciplines like 3×3 Basketball, BMX freestyle, Skateboarding, Surfing, and Sport Climbing youth-focused events, they will feature in an atmosphere that puts the fan in front. The diversity of new and established sports and disciplines reflects well Tokyo’s cultural blend of tradition and innovation.
We have also re-imagined how the Olympic Games could be organised, simplifying venue plans, and using existing facilities, which has led to more than USD 4 billion in savings. All of this while making sure the Games are more exciting and engaging for fans both young and old around the world. -
IOC Members caution against awarding Games too far ahead
• Brisbane moved to “targeted dialogue” as the first project to meet feasibility criteria
• This doesn’t mean a host has been elected now
• If targeted dialogue is unsuccessful, “continuous dialogue” with Brisbane and other interested parties could resume
• New approach to selecting hosts enables long term strategic outlook
• Expert advice is to “seize solid existing opportunities” due to impact of Covid crisis
• No double award with 2036 due to uncertain outlook beyond 2032
The IOC progressed Brisbane to the “targeted dialogue” stage of candidature for the 2032 Olympic Games following “expert advice” to “seize solid existing opportunities and secure the future” – but planning even further ahead is not recommended by IOC Members addressing the 137th IOC Session.Joe
Berchtold
President
Live Nation Entertainment, Chair of the Future Hosts Commission for the Summer Games addressed the question of whether to consider a double award for 2032 and 2036, akin to the dual awarding of Paris and Los Angeles.
“The 2024 and 2028 double award was a very different situation for many reasons, not least because it was an election 11 years ahead, while 2036 would represent 15 years before the Games,” she said.
“In addition the Olympic Games will evolve tremendously during this period. The Games are a reflection of society and there is going to be an evolution in national and individual priorities on sustainability, human development and other topics.
“The UN Sustainable Development Goals are expected to be concluded by the early 2030s and there will certainly be new, more ambitious objectives with which the Olympic movement will want to align.
“The Games should also reflect the fast-evolving sports landscape. In addition there can also be many changes to the political landscape over such a long period, which adds to the uncertainty.”
IOC Member and Austrian Olympic Committee President Karl Stoss also highlighted the importance of keeping future Games bids open to other prospective hosts.
“It is great to have a long perspective of our host cities and regions,” he said. “With 2032 Brisbane and Queensland we have a long-term strategy about our hosts of our [Summer Olympic] Games after Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles and hopefully Brisbane Australia,” he said.
“But it is also our responsibility, and from the perspective of good governance and fairness, not to go too far in the future, because there may be some other interested parties and cities and regions.
“We have a good choice if we do it for 2032, but in the mind of good governance and fairness for all – maybe all other interested cities and regions – we have not to go too far in the future.”
The IOC elected in January 2019 to take a new dialogue-based approach to selecting Olympic hosts.
“The non-committal and confidential nature of the approach, with no financial commitment, benefits both interested parties and the IOC,” said Kloster Aasen.
“It has encouraged interested parties to come to the table to test ideas and concepts and explore a vision or a potential for hosting future games or ask for information.”
The process begins with a phase known as “continuous dialogue”.
“Since there is no submission required in continuous dialogue, as opposed to the past, interested parties spend very little money and benefit from up to date information and expertise from the IOC at no cost to them. They can test plans and assumptions without public debate and see how to best align their Olympic planning with their own development plans for their communities.
“This flexibility also benefits the Olympic movement to have a long-term strategic outlook across editions of the Games.”
Through the new procedure, a candidate’s hosting plan is moved from continuous dialogue to targeted dialogue when it meets certain criteria, as has now happened with Brisbane.
“It became clear that one project, and only one project met all the opportunities we have seen in the public feasibility assessment, and that project was Brisbane.
“Moving to a targeted dialogue means that we are moving a project to a second stage for a detailed development and assessment…. [it] does not mean that we are electing an Olympic host now.
“Once a preferred host has been selected for a particular edition of the games, no other interested party can enter into targeted dialogue for the same Games, unless the first targeted dialogue has been unsuccessfully concluded.”
Brisbane will now develop its plans in more detail.
“If Brisbane delivers, the Executive Board would be in a position to put Brisbane 2032 forward to the Session to a vote. If not, despite best efforts by both parties, the IOC and Brisbane, the Executive Board could advise the Future Host Commission to go back to continuous dialogue with Brisbane and other interested parties.”
Global economic repercussions
The impact of Covid 19 has been felt by National Olympic Committees and interested parties in continuous dialogue. “Many projects were put on hold while governments were concentrating on protecting the health of their cities and trying to shore up their economies,” Kloster Aasen said.
And the impact will be felt for years to come. “Once the health crisis is over, it is going to have global economic repercussions. The world economy is going through an unprecedented crisis. The current health crisis will have wider global consequences especially with respect to the labour market and the risk of increased inequality.
“While the impact of the crisis can be witnessed now, experts forecast that the world economy is likely to be most impacted over the next 5 years, during the period when we would have expected to elect a host for 2032 under the previous candidature system.
“The expert advice that we have been given is that we should seize solid existing opportunities and secure the future for a next generation of athletes who are facing an uncertain future.”