Skip to main content

A Crisis for Tokyo Olympics Over IOC Promise that Marathon Swimming Will Be Held in Tokyo Bay



There is plenty of worry over the heat expected at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The marathons and race walks were controversially moved to Sapporo, but the fate of the marathon swimming event remains uncertain. According to reports by the AP last week, American officials are making a stink about the water quality and water temperature at the Odaiba site for marathon swimming in Tokyo Bay.

The AP reports that even prior to the announcement of the marathon being moved to Sapporo, a group of athletes and 11,000 supporters had requested that the marathon swimming venue in Tokyo Bay be moved. It quoted unhappy voices from the group of athletes who plan to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, saying, "We want to take part in the Olympics, but what kind of price will we have to pay?" In addition, it said that a group of American officials were scouting locations for an alternate venue in one of the lakes at the base of Mount Fuji.

The Tokyo Olympics marathon swimming competition is a 10 km race through the natural ocean. The  Odaiba venue drew complaints from athletes at August's pre-Olympic test event, who said that the water "smelled like a toilet." But in addition to the water quality, the water temperature is an important factor.

At the 2010 World Swimming Championships in the U.A.E., an athlete died due to high water temperatures. As a result of that incident, the international swimming federation set the maximum water temperature at which events can be staged at 31˚C. At August's test event water temperatures in Odaiba hit 30.5˚C, naturally creating unease among the competitors. And it wasn't just the Americans who started complaining.

A swim spokesperson commented, "Many Japanese officials are also beginning to view the water temperature and water quality at Odaiba as an issue. Seeing that the marathon was moved to another venue, many voices are now asking, 'Doesn't that mean marathon swimming should also be moved to a better location?'"

But is that even possible? Takashi Moriyama, an architectural economics expert who has worked on issues related to Olympic venues, commented, "For marathon swimming there is no need to build any 'big box' facilities. If the athletes raise their voices the IOC may listen and decide to make a change. But there's a problem. When the marathon venue was moved to Sapporo the IOC promised Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, 'There will be no further venue changes apart from the marathons and race walks.' This will be a heavy weight upon the IOC's decision making. It's possible that the IOC will not be true to its word, but that would be a major loss of face for the Governor."

If athletes are forced to swim in warm toilet water in order to protect Governor Koike's honor, it is hard to see that as in keeping her "athlete first" policy.

source article:
https://newstf.x-day.tokyo/?p=30919
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters