(ATR) A rebuilt sports facility in Fukushima will be the start of the 2020 Olympic torch relay.
J-Village, a soccer training center in Fukushima, will kick off the relay, after the flame arrives in Japan from Greece, according to Kyodo News.
The center opened in 1997 but was destroyed in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Parts of the facility reopened last July, and Japanese media report that it will fully reopen next month.
Tokyo 2020 held an executive board meeting in Fukushima last July, visiting J-Village after it partially reopened.
IOC President Thomas Bach visited Fukushima and other sport venues in the area along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in November.
Fukushima will host opening Olympic baseball and softball matches, as part of Tokyo 2020’s mission to incorporate revitalized areas in Tohoku in the Games concept.
Tokyo 2020 already confirmed that the 2020 torch relay will begin in Fukushima before touring around the country. The relay will spend more time in the three prefectures affected by the 2011 disaster relative to the other regions of Japan. To do so, Tokyo 2020 sought an extension to the overall length of the torch relay from the IOC.
Written by Aaron Bauer
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