Tokyo Olympic Chiefs Hail New Sports; Baseball Concerns

(ATR) Tokyo 2020's president hailed the inclusion of five new sports for the Games – but questions remain about the involvement of the world’s best baseball players.

On a landmark day for the Olympic Movement, the IOC Session unanimously approved the addition of baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding to the 2020 Games on Wednesday.

Yoshiro Mori, head of the Tokyo organizing committee, said the vote "constitutes a new chapter in the illustrious history of the Olympic Games".

A total of 33 sports are now on the Tokyo program. The addition of 18 events in the five sports will bring an extra 474 athletes to the Games.

Preceding a debate on the merits of each of the sports, IOC president Thomas Bach emphasized that members were voting on a package of sports, not individual sports. Tokyo organizers led the effort to fine-tune a list of sports to both suit a Japanese audience and grow the appeal of the Olympics. The IOC executive board and program commission helped tailor the offering.

Bach noted that the new mix of sports was a one-off for Tokyo. Still to come next year is a review of the Rio 2016 sports program and possible decisions about the diversity of sports for the 2024 Games.

Baseball Concerns

It was not all plain sailing for Tokyo.

Several IOC members raised serious concerns about Tokyo 2020’s ability to draw the world’s elite players from Major League Baseball.

Ung Chung queried the lack of any guarantees from the MLB, saying he was worried the IOC might see a repeat of the "bad experience" it has witnessed with golf for Rio 2016. The world’s top players have stayed away, many citing the Zika virus as an excuse.

Olympic Program Commission chair Franco Carraro admitted it would be a tough challenge. He said agreements had been struck with all professional leagues except MLB. Negotiations are ongoing. "All the best players we think they are waiting to come," he said of athletes for the other four sports.

At a news conference parading the presidents of all five sports to the media, World Baseball Softball Confederation president Riccardo Fraccari insisted negotiations with MLB were "very open and going in a very good way. Be sure that we present the best athletes in Tokyo".

IOC sports director Kit McConnell said was "looking forward to seeing some more progress".

Mori told reporters: "We have time so the best people can participate in baseball."

Recovering from his second cancer operation, he said his chief physician was against the idea of him traveling to Rio for the Session. But he didn’t want to miss the milestone vote. "I am growing my weight. I am full of vigor and energy. I am here with you and this gives me immense joy."

Milestone for Olympics

McConnell told a media briefing that the Tokyo additions represented the "biggest change in the modern Olympic program" and was an "exciting day for the Games and Tokyo 2020".

McConnell said the IOC’s vision was "not limited to the five sports". It signaled "a vision of how we want to use sport at future Games, using the Olympic program to reach out to the youth and really engage with them in a direct way not just through the Games but 365 days per year through the Olympic Channel".

John Coates, the IOC’s coordination commission chair for Tokyo, said a thorough review had taken place of where the sports could be located and the impact on the masterplan.He said skateboarding and sports climbing would be in a urban cluster concept, with sport presentation including music and entertainment a major focus to make the sports more attractive.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said the venue sites had been carefully chosen to minimize the impact on the budget.

In other comments at his press conference, Mori welcomed the new Tokyo governor. Yuriko Koike was elected on July 31 as the city’s first female governor. Mori said he looked forward to a "close collaboration" with Koike to ensure there 2020 Olympics left the city with "tangible and intangible social values".

Muto said the handover of the Olympic flag from the Rio mayor to Tokyo’s new governor was "a moment to consider our responsibility to the entire Olympic Movement".

The IOC Executive Board will finalize the sites of the five sports at its December meeting when the master plan will be signed off.

Reported by Mark Bissonin Rio de Janeiro

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