Bach Talks Takeda, Paris 2024 and Koreas for Tokyo 2020

(ATR) The IOC president denies that he called for Tsunekazu Takeda to quit over the vote-buying Tokyo 2020 scandal.

On Tuesday, the IOC dropped its ethics investigation into its former marketing chairman after the Japanese Olympic Committee president’s IOC membership was abruptly ended. It comes amid an ongoing probe by French prosecutors into a $2 million payment to Singaporean consultancy Black Tidings ahead of the 2013 IOC host city vote.

The pair spoke on the phone on March 18, the day before Takeda, who denies any wrongdoing, announced his resignation to Japanese press.

Bach said it was a "free decision" of Takeda, refusing to say whether he had tried to persuade the JOC president to stay on. His resignation is considered in some quarters as a damage limitation exercise for the IOC and Tokyo 2020, preventing an ethics case hurting both organizations.

Bach said Takeda also "wanted to clear the way in the interests of Japan" and had asked the IOC to identify a member in Japan to replace him as soon as possible. "The IOC EB was full of respect for this decision," he said.

The IOC leader said it was in the Olympic Movement’s interests to quickly select another Japanese member, with the Tokyo Olympics on the horizon.

But it would be a challenge to do this by the June Session because the IOC members election commission and ethics body had to vet potential candidates and timelines were too tight.

New Paris 2024 Sports

The IOC’s ruling body today supported the four sports proposed by Paris 2024 organizers to add to their Olympics. They are breaking, surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding.

Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet, who updated the EB on Games preparations Wednesday, told reporters the sports were "well-received" by executive board members.

Bach said the sports, which will be ratified at the IOC Session this summer, "contribute to make the program of the Games more gender balanced, more youthful and more urban. These four sports also offer the opportunity to connect with the young generation."

Estanguet’s presentation came before IOC program commission chairman Franco Carraro gave the panel's recommendations following its review of the sports.

Bach said there were some "really important caveats", stressing that the decision meant only "provisional inclusion" in the Paris Olympics. The final decision will be taken at end of 2020 following a review of the three sports participating in the Tokyo Olympics and assessments of breaking over the next 18 months.

The IOC is putting a monitoring program in place, Bach added, to see how each of the four sports perform, "how they manage their sports, to look at the governance, to look at the integrity of their competitions, to look at refereeing and judging systems".

No Approval for Joint Korean Team

The executive board continues to study the possibility of fielding joint Korean teams for Tokyo 2020. No decision was taken Wednesday to approve previously announced plans to bring North and South Korean athletes together for a joint march or joint teams in some sports.

Instability in the fragile political situation on the Korean peninsula may be a factor. An IOC working committee is analyzing the potential of joint Korean teams as well as proposals for a joint candidature of the two nations for the 2032 Summer Olympics.

"We have decided we will continue our efforts and talks regardless of any political decisions which have been taken in the last couple of weeks," Bach said. "We will concentrate on sport and continue to support North Korean athletes in qualification and preparations and be in contact with both governments for any other joint activities."

Any joint Korean team must involve athletes and team officials from both NOCs and they would have to participate in qualification systems for the Tokyo Olympics, he emphasized.

Reported by Mark Bissonin Lausanne.

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