International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach yesterday said he wanted closer cooperation from Japanese officials to ensure the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are the cleanest on record in terms of doping.
“What is also important is that we want these Olympic Games to be absolutely clean Olympic Games,” Bach said during a visit to Tokyo 2020 venues in Fukushima with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Bach said he was confident of a balanced budget, which is good news for organizers who have been under pressure since cuts were made last year.
Bach visited Fukushima to see the Azuma Baseball Stadium, which is to host the first events of the Games on July 22, 2020.
“We are very much impressed about the great progress, the reconstruction and also the mental recovery that the population has made in Fukushima,” Bach told Abe. “We are very happy that in this recovery, in this psychological recovery in particular, sport has played an important role.”
“We are convinced that the decision that we took some time ago to organize six baseball and softball games here in Fukushima was the right one,” he added. “It will be the culmination of the contribution of sport to the reconstruction and recovery of this area.”
Abe echoed Bach’s sentiments, saying: “Fukushima is the very place to prove the power of sports and the Olympics.”
Bach is in Japan ahead of the IOC’s executive board meeting in Tokyo on Friday and Saturday.
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