Olympics: Start line in sight for Tokyo as 2020 looms

TOKYO. KAZINFORM There were milestones aplenty in 2019 for the next Summer Olympic city, but the longstanding concerns about Tokyo's often unbearable heat again surfaced, bringing headaches for local organizers and governments alike.
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After another long, hot summer in Tokyo, it became clear that athlete and spectator welfare issues related to the temperature in the Japanese capital were not going away, Kyodo News reports.

A number of athletes competing in an Olympic rowing test event in Tokyo Bay were treated for heatstroke-like symptoms on a 34 C day in August, giving a small-scale indication of just how it might play out in July and August next year.

But it was the 2019 athletics world championships in Doha, Qatar, that was the catalyst for a decision by the International Olympic Committee to drop a bombshell on the host city, some 8,000 kilometers away on the other side of Asia.

When the IOC witnessed runners dropping like flies, being carried off the course and into a makeshift hospital due to the heat and humidity at the women's marathon in Doha, it decided something had to be done to ensure the scenes were not repeated in Tokyo.

And it is hard to argue a response was not required, given the winner, Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich, ran a time more than 15 minutes off her personal best and collapsed while talking to the media after the race. She at least finished, unlike 28 others who dropped out of the 68-woman field.

Less than a month later, the IOC abruptly called on Sapporo to come to the rescue and hold the Olympic marathon and race walking events. The capital of Japan's northernmost main island and former Winter Olympic host is a relative oasis of midsummer cool compared to muggy Tokyo.

There was fiery criticism from the capital over how the decision was handled and the lack of consultation with the Tokyo government, but the IOC stood firm.

«We had to move quickly and we didn't want speculation, we didn't want rumor and it was better to come out and say what our plan is,» the IOC's Coordination Commission chief John Coates told Kyodo News at the time.

IOC President Thomas Bach said his organization had to demonstrate how seriously it takes athlete safety and performance.

«The Olympic Games are the platform where athletes can give 'once-in-a-lifetime' performances, and these measures ensure they have the conditions to give their best,» Bach said.

The games' organizing committee had little option but to follow the IOC's lead but the Tokyo metropolitan government was vocal in its opposition, aggrieved that the decision came after it spent considerable time and resources preparing the city for the heat.

Gov. Yuriko Koike fought hard to keep Tokyo from losing an opportunity to showcase itself in front of the world due to what she declared was «a decision reached without an agreement.»

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