IOC Defuses Statement on Tokyo Postponement Costs

(ATR) The IOC has amended a Q&A feature on its website regarding postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to avoid controversy over ongoing negotiations on the costs of the one year delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Originally the Q&A included a reference to a comment from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that seemed to acknowledge Abe is expecting Japan to carry most of the added expense.

"Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has confirmed that Japan will continue to cover the costs forecast under the existing agreement for 2020. The IOC, for its part, will continue to bear its share of the expenses. For the IOC, there is no doubt that the additional costs will amount to several hundred million dollars," is how the original text appeared.

During a briefing for Japanese reporters Tuesday, spokesmen for Tokyo 2020 and the Abe government denied that any agreement on sharing costs had been agreed by the IOC and Tokyo 2020.

"To date, there is no agreement on the distribution of the additional cost linked to the postponement of the Games," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said.

With those costs expected to mount into the hundreds of million dollars, who will pay and how much are sensitive questions for the government and Tokyo 2020. As much as $12 billion has been spent so far on preparing for the Games, now set to open July 23, 2021.

Questions about the postponement costs dominated a 90 minute briefing Tuesday by Tokyo 2020 media chief Masa Takaya.

"It's not appropriate for the prime minister’s name to be quoted in this manner," Takaya said as the rationale for seeking to have the reference to Abe expunged from the IOC article.

A statement from the IOC to Aroundthe Rings acknowledges the concerns from Tokyo.

"Tokyo 2020 signaled us that they felt it would not be appropriate to mention the Prime Minister in such IOC communication and we, of course, respected this wish," says the IOC.

Thus the updated response on the Q&A regarding the financial impact of the postponement:

"Tokyo 2020 and the IOC confirm that it was agreed between the IOC and Japan on 24 March 2020 that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad will now be celebrated in 2021. This postponement was made in order to protect the health of all people involved in the staging of the Games, in particular the athletes, and to support the containment of the virus. It will now be the work of the IOC to assess all the challenges induced by the postponement of the Games, including the financial impact for the Olympic Movement.

"The Japanese government has reiterated that it stands ready to fulfill its responsibility for hosting successful Games. At the same time, the IOC has stressed its full commitment to successful Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The IOC and the Japanese side, including the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, will continue to assess and discuss jointly about the respective impacts caused by the postponement," says the IOC website.

An IOC official says the FAQ content on the IOC website is regularly updated.

Reported by Ed Hula.