The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wrapped up two days of meetings with reports on the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s financial statements, and preparations for upcoming editions of the Olympic Games.
The EB received a very good report from the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee. They presented on the progress of their venue master plan review and the EB confirmed the venue locations for a further 8 sports – aquatics, badminton, fencing, rugby, sailing, taekwondo, triathlon, and wrestling. The decision is expected to result in savings of approximately USD 700 million from the revised Tokyo 2020 construction budget, which when added to the approximately USD 1 billion savings announced at the Executive Board in Rio de Janeiro in February gives the Tokyo organisers a total of about USD 1.7 billion in savings.
“By approving these changes and having a more intelligent way of using facilities following Olympic Agenda 2020, that means by making more use of existing facilities, allocating sports into joint venues whenever possible, we achieved further savings in the OCOG’s budget of USD 700 million,” IOC President Thomas Bach said following the meetings. “That means that the application of Olympic Agenda 2020 for Tokyo 2020 is already resulting in USD 1.7 billion in savings. We are confident that there is even room for more. We are still working on this. This shows how Tokyo is embracing Olympic Agenda 2020 and shows immediate results. I’d like to remind you that the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020 is just six months old. Already now we have this great result of 1.7 billion.”
The EB also heard from the Rio 2016 Organising Committee President Carlos Nuzman. The EB noted the progress that is being made in Rio de Janeiro, particularly on the venues, where significant advances have been made. The EB is confident that the Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016 will be a great success if this work rate continues.
Pictured – Pat Hickey and Thomas Bach
