Tokyo Olympics 2020: Games board member ready to support another delay if needed

An executive board member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee says another delay should be sought if the games can’t be held next year. [caption id=“attachment_8488801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image of Haruyuki Takahashi, executive board member of Tokyo Organising Committee. AP[/caption] The Tokyo Olympics were to be held this year but were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The suggestion comes from Haruyuki Takahashi in an interview published Monday in the Japanese sports newspaper _Nikkan Sport_s. “The main priority is to make a united effort to hold them (Olympics) in the summer of 2021," Takahashi said. He said if that is not possible “we should start action once again to get another delay.” Estimates in Japan suggest the one-year delay will cost $2 billion to $6 billion, most of which will fall to Japanese taxpayers. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and local organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori have both ruled out another delay and have said the games will be canceled if they can’t open on 23 July, 2021. Takahashi has been intimately tied to the Tokyo Games. He is reported to have received millions of dollars from the Tokyo bid committee for his work lobbying IOC members when Tokyo was chosen in 2013 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, ahead of Madrid and Istanbul. Takahashi is a former employee of the giant Japanese advertising agency Dentsu, Inc., which has been credited with helping Tokyo land the Olympics. Dentsu is the exclusive marketing agency for the Tokyo Olympics and has been pivotal in lining up a record $3.3 billion in local sponsorships.