Lausanne, Switzerland, December 4, 2019: The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 were in the spotlight during the IOC Executive Board meeting in Lausanne this week with a number of important decisions being taken on the sports front. The IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee announced that Sapporo Odori Park had been approved by the IOC EB as the venue for the marathon and race walk events. This followed confirmation from World Athletics. The competition schedules have also been revamped to facilitate the support of NOC officials and coaches to the athletes, as Sapporo is located 800km to the north of Tokyo. The revised schedule is: August 6, 4.30pm: Men’s 20km race walk August 7, 5.30am: Men’s 50km race walk August 7, 4.30pm: Women’s 20km race walk August 8, 7.00am: Women’s marathon August 9, 7.00am: Men’s marathon *A decision was also taken to bring forward the start times of the triathlon and equestrian eventing (cross-country) events in Tokyo. The triathlon individual events will now start at 6.30am instead of 7.30am and the mixed relay at 7.30am instead of 8.30am. The start time for equestrian eventing (cross-country) will now move from 8.30am to between 7.30am and 8am. *It was reported that seven out of nine new venues for Tokyo 2020 have been completed. *Over 8 million people have signed up to apply for tickets. *The organisers of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 will launch its volunteer programme this Thursday, while preparations for its first test event in February in Yanqing are well underway. *The IOC EB approved a budget of 5 million USD, spread over 10 years, for long-term storage of doping samples in a programme managed by the International Testing Agency. Potentially, 22,000 samples could be kept. *Teams from the upcoming host countries of corresponding Summer or Winter Olympic Games will now march immediately before the current host delegation, which traditionally closes the athletes’ parade. This means that, at Tokyo 2020, the three last teams to march will be the USA (Los Angeles 2028), France (Paris 2024) and Japan. *The EB also approved three changes of nationality including Eileen Gu Ailing - Freestyle Skiing - from the USA to China (for Lausanne Winter YOG 2020)
IOC announces marathon, race walk schedule at Sapporo for Tokyo 2020
