Chef de Mission Seminar Closes in Tokyo

(ATR) The final day of the Tokyo 2020 Chef de Mission Seminar is underway in Tokyo.

The three day seminar is traditionally held in Olympic host cities with one year to go.

All 206 of the world’s National Olympic Committees are invited to send delegations.

The seminar included visits to venues such as the Olympic Stadium and Olympic Village.

"Our role is to prepare the best stage, so that athletes can achieve their personal best. We will present our plans during this seminar. With the athletes-first concept as our focus, we would like to continue to work together with NOCs and the IOC to make smooth Games preparations in the remaining year," Tokyo 2020 COO Yushiko Nunomura said at the opening of the seminar.

Extreme heat is one of the concerns for the NOCs. The test event last week for woman’s triathlon was shortened while pollution in Tokyo Bay led to cancellation of the swimming portion of the Paratriathlon.

Dutch Chef de Mission Pieter van den Hoogenband reiterated the NOC’s confidence overcoming these complications.

"Of course we know there are some heat issues but overall, for all the different teams, these are the circumstances and we have to deal with it." van den Hoogenbrand said.

"Because of the test events, we get a lot of information and a lot of data and the way the organising committee is taking all that data to make it even more perfect ... I was impressed with the way they handled things."

Homepage Photo: Tokyo 2020

Written by Greer Wilson.