japan running news

IOC and World Athletics officials are in Sapporo to see the potential course for next summer's Tokyo Olympics marathon. On the morning of Dec. 14, a group of around 20 officials from both groups and members of the Olympic Games Organizing Committee visited Odori Park, the designated start and finish point for the marathon. The first 20 km of the course have been set, but the remaining section has yet to be determined. The Organizing Committee wants to use the same 20 km loop for the second half of the race, but World Athletics insists upon using three laps of a 7 km loop.

The visiting officials will tour the course by bus until 4:00 p.m., hopefully using the experience to finalize the rest of the course at some point in the near future. Organizing Committee executive Yoshiro Mori commented, "All three groups are thinking in terms of wrapping it up next week."

source articles:
http://www.news24.jp/nnn/news16434946.html
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20191214-00000102-ky…

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…

A few weeks ago the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games marathons were abruptly moved to Sapporo on a whim by the IOC. The 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games marathon, however, will still be held in Tokyo as scheduled on Sept. 6, the final day of the Games. With runners faced by a variety of physical challenges all competing for gold, the Paralympic marathon can be enjoyed from courseside just as much as the one at the Olympics.

The Tokyo Paralympics marathon course is identical to that originally planned for the Olympics. Both the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics had multi-lap circuit courses, but this time the course will offer a wide-ranging tour of all Tokyo's major landmarks. Starting at the new Olympic Stadium, the course passes near Sensoji Temple, Tokyo Station, Kabukiza Theater, Tokyo Tower and the Imperial Palace before returning for a finish back inside the Olympic Stadium. Organizing Committee official Koji Murofushi commented, "It's a dynamic course unlik…

On Dec. 9 the Sapporo City Council heard a proposal for a 700 million yen [~$6.5 million USD] supplementary budget to cover costs of roadwork on the 2020 Olympic race walk course and as yet not fully determined marathon course. 8.7 km of the 10.7 km of the courses under city jurisdiction were judged to need repair work ahead of the Olympics. The road work would be set to begin in early March next year with a target completion date by the end of May.

With regard to the events' courses, on Dec. 4 the IOC executive board reached a final agreement on the race walk courses along Sapporo Ekimae street, but they only approved of the first 20 km of organizers' proposed marathon course. The 2020 Olympic Organizing Committee aims to have the rest of the course settled before the end of the month.

The city's calculation for the road work expenditures in its proposal was based only on the first 20 km of the marathon course. The Organizing Committee had requested the Sapporo city gove…

Two runners who cheated at the Nov. 17 Shanghai International Marathon have been permanently banned from the event. According to organizers and domestic media, one of the two rode a bicycle to make up part of the race's distance.

China is currently in the midst of a major boom in the popularity of running and marathons, but incidents of cheating are spreading at the same pace. At this year's Shanghai Marathon four people were penalized for violating race rules and regulations. The most brazen among them was a female runner who ran with a male bib number and was caught riding a bicycle, according to The Beijing News.

Race organizers said that the woman, identified by her last name Zhao, has been permanently banned from all their events, commenting, "The orderly conduct of the race was significantly disturbed." The man whose bib the woman wore was also permanently banned for "being involved in committing fraud and for failure to prevent the events from happening.…

Multiple officials confirmed on Dec. 6 that the total additional cost of the IOC's decision to move the Tokyo 2020 Olympic marathons and race walks to Sapporo will be under 10 billion yen [~$92 million USD], likely totaling in the 7 to 8 billion yen range [~$65 million to $75 million USD]. The exact amount is still undetermined due to the IOC's rejection of the Organizing Committee's proposed two-lap course earlier this week, but the Organizing Committee intends to go ahead with this budget estimate.

Initially the IOC had decreed that the events should start and finish at Sapporo Dome. But with no access gate capable of handling a marathon, the construction costs necessary to make Sapporo Dome a suitable venue were said to be in the area of several billion yen [tens of millions of USD]. When the IOC made its proclamation that the road events would be relocated to Sapporo, the Citizens First Association group within the Tokyo Metropolitan Government estimated that the cost…

The IOC held an executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on Dec. 4. With regard to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathons and race walks, which the IOC decreed last month must be moved to north as an effort to combat expected high temperatures, the IOC's executive board turned down a plan from the Tokyo organizing committee for the marathon to be held on a two-lap course through the Sapporo city center. The board did accept an out-and-back race walk course along the major street in front of Sapporo Station.

The schedule for the marathons was settled, with the women's marathon to be held Aug. 8 and the men's on Aug. 9. A start and finish point at Odori Park and a first lap consisting of 20 km were also finalized, but an agreement on the rest of the marathon course could not be reached. Tadashi Fukushima, head coach of the Fujitsu corporate team whose runner Shogo Nakamura won September's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials, called for a decision to be made as quickly a…

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympic marathons and race walks having been moved to Sapporo by the IOC, organizers have settled upon a four-day period for the events to be held and are currently in the final stages of settling the exact schedule. The men's marathon will be held as scheduled on the final day of the Olympic Games, Aug. 9, with the women's marathon moved from its original Aug. 2 date to Aug. 8. The three men's and women's race walk events will be held Aug. 6 and 7. Multiple sources involved in the planning confirmed the information.

The marathons will start and finish at Sapporo's Odori Park. The course will likely be a two-lap course through the city center as preferred by the organizing committee. World Athletics, the governing body of track and field, has insisted on a more compact course of around six laps, but in the interest of the Olympic Games having some sort of lasting legacy a proposal to use the course for a two-lap Olympic marathon as a half marat…

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201911180052.html

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1087018/evan-dunfee-on-ioc-moving-races

Speaking about the relocation of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics road events to Sapporo at a press conference in Sydney on Nov. 13, IOC coordination committee chairperson John Coates reiterated the IOC's insistence that the men's marathon be staged on the final day of the Olympics, Aug. 9, saying, "It is to be held on the last day of the Olympics, and the athletes must be put on a plane and returned (to Tokyo) in time for the closing ceremonies."

In response to the IOC's edict that the premier event of the Olympics, the men's marathon, be moved out of Tokyo to Sapporo, 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee head Yoshiro Mori had indicated that the date of the men's marathon would be changed in order to overcome the logistical impossibilities created by the move to Sapporo. The IOC responded by saying the marathon was still to be held on the 9th. "No final decision has yet been made, but the organizers should be prepared to hold it on the s…

On Nov. 10, men's marathon national record holder Suguru Osako took to Twitter to lash out at people who suspect him of doping. Sponsored by Nike, Osako was a longtime member of the Nike Oregon Project team. The team's head coach Alberto Salazar was recently suspended by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for four years as the result of an investigation into his misuse of restricted substances and methods.

Osako posted his opinions on his Twitter account @sugurusako at 8:46 a.m. on Nov. 10, denying that he has doped. "It seems like people seem to think that what happened with the Oregon Project means that I'm already guilty of doping, but anyone who thinks that way is really, really simple-minded," he wrote. "My coach never even once told me to take drugs or get injections that I didn't understand, and I've checked every single supplement and throat lozenge that's gone in my mouth."

At the Nike Oregon Project Osako was not coached…

2020 Tokyo Olympics organizing committee deputy secretary general Toshiro Muto met with Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto and Hokkaido governor Naomichi Suzuki in Sapporo on Nov. 8. Just one day after organizing committee head Yoshiro Mori had said that the men's marathon would be moved from the final date of the Olympics, Muto indicated that the committee would be reexamining that idea. Faced by the need to have a marathon course ready for approval by the IOC's board of directors at its Dec. 2-4 meeting, Muto visited the three candidate locations for the course's start and finish point, Odori Park, Sapporo Dome and Maruyama Park.

In a reversal of Mori's remarks the previous day about the need to change the date of the Olympic men's marathon, Muto was forced to make a correction. At 9:00 a.m., Muto met first with Mayor Akimoto and then Governor Suzuki. Following the meetings, in response to a question from a reporter Muto commented on the situation, saying, "I …

It has come to light that a male teacher who serves as the head coach of a high school boys' ekiden team in the city of Kumamoto repeatedly used corporal punishment against team members. The team is one of the top ekiden programs, having competed at the National High School Ekiden Championships three times. Kumamoto City Board of Education Deputy Director of Education Fujio Hashizume commented, "We are very sorry."

According to the Board of Education, the 37-year-old male who coaches at Chiharadai H.S. has since April this year repeatedly verbally and physically abused multiple team members during practice sessions and during the team's summer vacation training camp. The allegations came to light on Oct. 16 when the Board of Education received an anonymous report about the coach's actions. After interviewing each team member as well as the coach the Board of Education determined that abusive behavior had taken place.

The coach, who has led the Chiharadai boys…

Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizing committee head Yoshiro Mori attended meetings in Sapporo Nov. 7 with Hokkaido governor Naomichi Suzuki and Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto to ask them for their support and cooperation in holding the Olympic marathons and race walk events in Sapporo after the IOC dictated that this happen. Indicating for the first time that neither the city nor prefecture would be asked to pay for the events, Mori said, “We want to make sure that there is no burden placed upon Hokkaido.”

At a meeting about the road events’ forced move to Sapporo between the IOC, national government, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Olympics organizing committee on Nov. 1, it was agreed that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government would not shoulder the costs of the IOC’s decree. The IOC had said that Hokkaido and Sapporo should share in paying for the cost of the events’ relocation, but in the meeting with Mori on Nov. 7 the Governor and Mayor reiterated their position that, “It is the …

https://apnews.com/e1f0c66f993546269d8e5f90684c062f

On the final day of the International Olympic Committee coordination commission meeting in Tokyo, top-level talks between the IOC, Tokyo Olympic Games Organizing Committee, Japan Olympic Committee, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Japanese National Government on the IOC's plan to move the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathons and race walks to Sapporo convened at noon.

IOC coordination commission chairperson John Coates decreed, "Regarding the marathons and race walk events, it is the IOC that has the authority to determine whether an event venue will be changed. Taking into consideration the expenses already incurred by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and local organizing committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will not be asked to pay for any additional expenses. There will be no further venue changes."

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike replied somewhat antagonistically, "Am I allowed to speak on this, sir, or am I only allowed to say yes or no?" Coates elevated t…

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1086470/tokyo-governor-marathon-ioc-criticism