(ATR) Association of Summer Olympic International Federations president Francesco Ricci Bitti says Tokyo 2020 can learn from the mistakes of Rio 2016 in terms of venue preparations and communication.
"The takeaways from Rio are many and important, and I’d like to be sure and to keep my consideration of the main two items – the master plan and the duty of the International Federations to provide the best condition to the athletes who are the real protagonists of the Olympics," Bitti told leaders of the Olympic Movement at the closing plenary session of the Rio 2016 transfer of knowledge.
"I enjoyed these days," Bitti said. "It was a mixture of festival and celebration of the success of Rio 2016 and also an occasion to consider the issues behind the organization of the biggest event of the world. I apologize for being a bit grounded, and it’s good to have dream and vision but we need to realize the problems organizers face."
Bitti was among the few Olympic Movement executives to offer critical opinions of the Rio Games during the closing session of the three-day debriefing in Tokyo. He says that the delay in venue construction in Rio caused the IFs to contribute more support than usual and that federations should be more involved with organizing the Games from the beginning.
"This is a message for the future," he said. "The model could be changed to level more the expertise of the IFs.
"During my meetings I recommend Tokyo to change this. It’s important to involve everyone from the beginning. Who are better consultants than the IFs who have much expertise at organizing these events? And we are free of charge!"
Bitti was the first to offer his thoughts about the Rio 2016 debrief among other Olympic stakeholders such as Gunilla Lindberg as a representative of the National Olympic Committees, Yiannis Exarchos for Olympic broadcasting, Thierry Borra on behalf of sponsors and Kirsty Coventry as an athlete representative.
IOC president Thomas Bach did not attend the debriefing but joined the closing session by video. Bach told delegates that the IOC appreciated the involvement of each of the next three Olympic Games all taking place in Asia.
"The future host countries working closely together and looking for synergies in the organizations within the spirit of Olympic Agenda 2020 will make the Games more feasible and sustainable and they are looking to extend this cooperation to other areas such as tourism and business," Bach said.
Rio 2016 president Carlos Nuzman expressed his gratitude to the IOC and Olympic stakeholders while passing the baton to Tokyo 2020.
"I have no doubt Tokyo 2020 will be an enormous success," Nuzman said. "I have no doubt about the capacity of Tokyo to deliver fantastic Games. And we will be here ready to cooperate as London did with us."
The debriefing brought an end to a nine-year journey by the Rio organizers that helped transform the city of Rio de Janeiro. Rio 2016 officials imparted their knowledge of hosting the Games to future host cities through 13 sessions over three days focusing on five themes: vision, communication, transformation, governance and engagement.
The Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission begins on Thursday with IOC vice president and CoComm chair John Coates at the helm. At the closing session of the debrief, Coates told Tokyo 2020 that the "clock is ticking" to begin venue construction.
"It’s critical in things such as saving costs; the sooner you get out there and get into your procurement contracts to begin construction, the cheaper it will be," Coates said during the closing plenary session. "Scarcity of labor and materials won’t be as much of an issue. If you move soon there are significant savings to be made in that area."
Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said they will take Coates and the rest of the international sporting community’s advice to "contribute to the development of the Olympic Movement in the best way".
"The baton has now been handed over to Tokyo from Rio," Mori said. "From here on, we will continue preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Games, together with the IOC and the IPC, more united than ever."
Written by Kevin Nutley
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