Tokyo 2020 President Deflects Blame for Scandals

(ATR) Yoshiro Mori has shifted the blame for a string of scandals to engulf Games preparations and criticized Japanese media.

Speaking with a small group of reporters in Lausanne, including Around the Rings, the former Japanese prime minister suggested he could not be held responsible for the debacle over the scrapped national stadium project, the plagiarized logo and the Tokyo 2020 bid payments scandal that is subject to a French investigation.

Mori was in good spirits and appeared to be in better health since his surgery for lung cancer. His pointed remarks about the difficulties that have afflicted Tokyo 2020’s preparations seemed a more personal response to some of the criticism from Japanese media back home where he is regarded as a political heavyweight with considerable influence.

"Everyone has a different way of deciphering a person called Mori," he told the briefing, noting his political background.

ATR asked Mori if he could ever have imagined Tokyo’s Olympic preparations would become fraught with so many problems – from last year’s stadium controversy and dropped logo to this year’s bid vote-buying scandal impacting the image of the Games.

"If I had known these three difficulties would happen I would be God," he said in a somber tone.

On the scrapping of the $2 billion stadium project due to rocketing costs, Mori said Japanese media "got it all wrong", explaining that the national stadium construction was not being handled by the organizing committee but the job of central government.

"But media must have thought that I would have an almighty power in determining everything about the stadium. I am not the kind of person who is given that kind of authority or power," he said.

Attacking the Japanese media, he said a question "tormenting" him was a "shortfall of reporters in Japan who have the wealth of knowledge in running and preparing for the Olympic Games". He said the nation's media "totally neglected" or didn’t know where responsibility for the stadium lay.

On the plagiarized logo, which forced Tokyo organizers to relaunch the design competition, Mori also deflected blame for the botched process, saying he had "no doubts about the methods of selection of the first logo" and had left it in the hands of experts to oversee the logo design and launch.

"We are not the experts, we thought better if we didn’t get involved," he said of Tokyo 2020 leaders, adding that organizers forgot "the existence of the internet society" which led to comparisons and ultimately a decision to drop it after a Belgian artist said his design was stolen.

"I am not trying to dodge inquiries about this whole process. We were unable to say categorically if either of the selection methods were good or bad," Mori said.

Mori dismissed links between Tokyo 2020 and the vote-buying allegations that have blighted the Olympic host city. Separate French and Japanese investigations are underway into a $2 million payment made by the Tokyo bid to Singaporean company Black Tidings for consultancy work. They are seeking to determine whether the bid made any illegal payments in 2013 aimed at winning support for Tokyo’s victorious Olympic campaign.

Repeating his previous statements on the issue, Mori emphasized that the Tokyo 2020 organising committee was a different entity to the bid team, and formed after the the Japanese capital secured hosting rights in Buenos Aires in 2013.

"In this organising committee there are no people associated with the bid committee’s activities," he said.

Back on Track

In view of Tokyo 2020’s troubled past 12 months, Mori started his remarks to reporters by saying he had revised his expectation that it would take two years to lay the foundations for the Olympics.

"To really get the things clearly grasped and understood I think it will take three years," he said.

"We know we started out from good intentions. However the picture portrayed through the media, reaching the minds of the Japanese public, is received in a different way we found out," Mori added in another blast at his country’s media.

After weathering the storm of scandals, the Tokyo 2020 president believes Games organizers are now "on the right rhythm, things have settled down.

"I think from the beginning of this year we feel that now things are pretty much on track."

The IOC Executive Board last week recommended a package of five new sports for the Tokyo Games, a significant milestone which Mori and his team were only made aware of en route to Lausanne before they had a chance to present the proposal.

The IOC decision to support Tokyo’s proposal for the inclusion of karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and baseball/softball on the Games program came a day earlier than expected – but was warmly welcomed.

"When we were up in the clouds the matter was decided as we wished," Mori said. "I said that I had a heavenly feeling being up in the clouds."

The package of sports must now be approved by the IOC Session in Rio in August.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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