Tokyo to Produce Several Olympic Venue Review Proposals

Tokyo, Oct. 25 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said Tuesday that the metropolitan government will produce several proposals on a venue review for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. "I think several proposals will be produced," Koike told reporters in Tokyo, speaking on her government's decision on the review, expected to be made by the end of this month at the earliest. A final conclusion will be reached in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee, she stressed. Earlier this month, Koike agreed with IOC President Thomas Bach to set up a four-party working group to discuss reducing the costs for the 2020 Games. The group will comprise the Tokyo metropolitan government, the IOC, the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the Japanese government. Koike said her government has been told by the IOC that cooperation may become difficult if the metropolitan government unilaterally makes a decision on the venue review. Tokyo's investigative panel on examining the costs for the 2020 Games has presented a proposal to drastically review three facilities, to be venues for rowing and canoeing, swimming and volleyball. Tokyo has narrowed down three proposals for the rowing and canoe sprint venue--developing a planned facility in a Tokyo Bay area for permanent use while cutting costs, developing the facility for temporary use or switching the venue to the existing Naganuma boat park in Tome in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Miyagi. Also on Tuesday, Cornel Marculescu, visiting executive director of FINA, the international swimming federation, urged Koike during their talks in Tokyo to build a new aquatics center for the swimming events in the Tokyo Games as planned, highlighting the importance of leaving a legacy for Tokyo residents and Japan's swimming competitions. "We're examining the effects (of facilities), including running costs after the Olympic Games," Koike said in response. "We'll make utmost efforts so that we can be happy to welcome swimmers from across the world." The current plan calls for spending 68.3 billion yen to construct a 20,000-seat aquatics center that will have five stories aboveground and one underground. After the Olympics and Paralympics, the center will be scaled down to a 5,000-seat facility with three stories aboveground and one underground. Tokyo's investigative panel has proposed reducing the size of the planned aquatics center or using an existing facility with repair. END