Thomas Bach Returns to Tokyo

(ATR) IOC President Thomas Bach’s two-day trip to Tokyo next week will include visits to the Olympic and Paralympic Village and the Olympic Stadium and meetings with new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

Bach will also meet with Tokyo 2020 organizers and hold a press conference alongside Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori in his first visit to Japan since Covid-19 forced the postponement of the Games.

Due to the pandemic, Bach and a small IOC contingent will fly a charter to Tokyo. Bach said he was taking additional safety measures ahead of his trip, which begins on Monday.

Speaking after the IOC executive board meeting on Wednesday, Bach said the trip "is important because we are now coming to a crucial stage of putting this toolbox together with Covid-19 countermeasures to get the feeling what will be needed next year".

There have been positive developments on a couple of fronts ahead of his visit. A successful international gymnastics meet was held last weekend before a limited capacity crowd at the gymnastics venue for the Games. The athletes who arrived from overseas were kept in a bubble and were under tight protocols but did not have to endure a 14-day quarantine after their arrival in the country.

On Thursday, Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said the Japanese government was planning to allow athletes to enter Japan without going into quarantine.

Also this week, Pfizer announced that it had a potentially effective vaccine for the coronavirus. While organizers were pleased with the news, they reiterated that they were planning to hold the Games with or without a vaccine in place.

The current pandemic restrictions in Japan will limit media access during Bach’s visit. The number of media members at the venues will be restricted with the vast majority to attend online.

The IOC warns those select journalists who are allowed to attend Bach’s visit to the Athletes Village that there will be no restrooms available at the event location.

Bach departs from Tokyo on Tuesday. A final joint press conference on the IOC/IPC project review for Tokyo 2020 will be held on Wednesday. John Coates, the chair of the IOC CoComm for Tokyo 2020, will be there in person alongside Mori and Muto. IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi and IPC President Andrew Parsons are among those who will be joining via teleconference.

Written by Gerard Farek

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