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Governor Koike Expresses Hope that Tokyo Olympic Marathon Will Move Back to Tokyo in Event of Spring Olympics


On Mar. 27 Governor Yuriko Koike, 67, spoke to the media at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government offices and on a morning news program about the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. "This is heavily premised on the assumption that the novel coronavirus will be under containment. The Olympics were postponed due to the coronavirus problem to begin with, and naturally, a decision should be made only after solving it," she said, emphasizing the expectation that the virus situation will be resolved.

Should the Olympics be rescheduled for spring, 2021 or another time outside the peak summer heat, the Governor also expressed her hope that the marathons and race walks would be staged in Tokyo as originally planned, setting the stage to reignite the issue of the events' forced relocation by the IOC to Sapporo last fall. "The citizens of Tokyo would like these to be in Tokyo," she said.

After a number of athletes dropped out of the marathons and race walks in heat and humidity at last fall's Doha World Championships the IOC made a snap decision to move those events from Tokyo to Sapporo at the Olympics. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government was not consulted beforehand, and Governor Koike was vehemently opposed to the decision. After four-party talks between the IOC, the Organizing Committee, the Metropolitan Government and the National Government, Koike ended by saying, "My belief that Tokyo remains the best option remains unchanged. The city of Tokyo cannot agree with this decision, but it is our decision not to prevent the group with the final decision-making authority, the IOC, from making it. This is a decision made without consent."

But immediately after the announcement of the Olympics' postponement, Organizing Committee head Yoshiro Mori had indicated that the events would not be moved, saying, "The overall framework will not change. I do not think we should alter anything." A JAAF official also commented, "They're fine in Sapporo. Changing things again will only cause more confusion." Even with Governor Koike making a proposal, it's bound to be a difficult road ahead for the events to move.

source article:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20200328-00000016-dal-spo
translated by Brett Larner

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