Tokyo 2020 Prepare for Year-to-Go Celebrations

(ATR) Games organizers are staging a star-studded series of events in the Japanese capital as part of the one-year countdown to the Olympics.

The official year-to-go ceremony takes place at the Tokyo International Forum on July 24. It will be attended by IOC president Thomas Bach and Olympic officials, including 2020 coordination commission chair John Coates and Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto will deliver a progress report on Games preparations. Games president Yoshiro Mori will give a speech, while Bach will follow IOC tradition in officially inviting the world’s NOCs to take part in the Olympics and Paralympics.

Games chiefs will also show off the design of the athletes’ medals. More than 5,000 medals have been made from metals recycled from mobile phones and electronic devices following a two-year collection campaign that concluded in March.

Tokyo 2020 promises a few surprise guest appearances at the countdown ceremony.

Also at the forum, members of the public will be able to try their hand at 17 of the 33 Olympic sports at various stands, with Japanese Olympians and Paralympians and the Olympic mascot Miraitowa also in attendance.

Tokyo has designated a four-week period – July 13 to Aug. 9 – as the year-to-go milestone during which a string of events will be staged in conjunction with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Olympic stakeholders.

Ahead of the July 24 countdown events, the IOC project review team led by Coates and Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi will conduct its 10th inspection of Games preparations.

Meetings between the IOC delegation and Tokyo organising committee are scheduled for July 22 to 23. Mori and Muto will play prominent roles in discussions about Games delivery and operations and during venue visits.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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