IOC Approves Tokyo 2020 Competition Schedule

(ATR) Swimming is the only one of 33 sports on the Tokyo Olympic program whose schedule has yet to be rubber-stamped by the IOC.

On day one of its three-day meeting in Lausanne, the IOC executive board approved the competition schedule apart from the sessions for swimming, artistic swimming, and diving.

Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said today that Japan wanted the swimming finals in the evening local time. U.S. rightsholder NBC is keen on an early start so they can screen swimming in a primetime slot.

Around the Rings is told that Tokyo 2020 was hoping to have the entire competition schedule finalized this week in Lausanne.

But tense negotiations on the three swimming disciplines to be held at the Tokyo Olympic aquatics center failed to deliver a deal.

The IOC, FINA, Tokyo 2020 and Olympic Broadcasting Services will now get back to work to hammer out an agreement on when the swimming finals should be held.

John Coates, the IOC watchdog chief for Tokyo 2020, IOC director general Christophe de Kepper and sports director Kit McConnell have been tasked with working to find a solution on swimming and making minor tweaks.

Also approved Wednesday was the format for baseball, which will include two groups of three teams for both the men’s and women’s competitions – but crucially more matches in the knockout phase, which was requested by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.

In an interview with reporters at the Lausanne Palace Hotel, Mori said compromise deals had been struck across the sports with all sides winning and losing something.

Mori and Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto told reporters that the IOC was "impressed" with how quickly the competition schedule had come together.

A Tokyo 2020 spokesman told ATR that two years out from the Games, "the fact that 32 sports have been approved is a big, big achievement for Tokyo 2020. We should be proud of that".

First Sports

Football and softball matches, including one in Fukushima, an area devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, will kick off the Tokyo Olympics, two days before the opening ceremony.

The Games will feature a record 33 sports and 339 events. Rowing and archery events take place on July 24, the day of the ceremony itself.

Day one of the Olympics will feature events in 21 different sports, including shooting, table tennis, judo, badminton, gymnastics, tennis and cycling.

"This will be a symbolic and scenic first day of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, featuring the men’s cycling road race winding its way from Tokyo to the foothills of the world-famous Mount Fuji," the organizing committee said in a release.

Youth Appeal

Tokyo 2020 aims to appeal additionally to more youthful and urban generations.

Basketball 3x3, skateboarding, and surfing — all new events added to the Tokyo 2020 program — will start on the first weekend.

August 1, 2020 has been billed as "Super Saturday", with a number of medal events scheduled to be held on that day, including Olympic debuts for the judo mixed team event, triathlon mixed team relay, and shooting trap mixed team event.

Other highlights of the program include an action-packed day eight featuring 23 sports.

The men’s marathon is the showpiece event on Aug. 9, the final day of the Olympics.

Tokyo 2020 said it took a "holistic approach" when compiling the schedule, taking into account the technical rules and regulations of the various international federations, gender balance, the popularity of individual sports in Japan, operational considerations, athletes’ experience & well-being, and the global TV audience.

Mori said in a statement: "I am truly pleased that we were able to mark this significant milestone today before the two-years-to-go mark."

Tokyo 2020 clarified in a release Wednesday that the competition schedule by session outlines the start time and finish time of each session, and is subject to change.

A more detailed schedule by event will identify the individual times of specific events – such as heats, semi-finals, finals, classification matches – that will take place within each session.

The competition schedule by event will be announced by next spring.

The Tokyo Olympics will use a total of 42 venues, including 24 existing, 10 temporary and eight new permanent venues. These will include three venues in Fukushima, Ibaraki, and Miyagi prefectures, which were among those hardest hit by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Written and Reported by Mark Bissonin Lausanne.

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