- Title: OLYMPICS-TOKYO Tokyo 2020 CEO reassured by IOC stance on logo row
- Date: 1st August 2015
- Summary: MUTO/OLYMPIC LOGO OLYMPIC LOGO
- Embargoed: 16th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Malaysia
- Country: Malaysia
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVABO7O0UCVA4VZUDOEUYF25EBY
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Tokyo has welcomed an International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision to dismiss a plagiarism row on Saturday (August 1), saying that they are 'satisfied' with the feedback.
The logo designed by Kenjiro Sano was hit by controversy after a designer pointed out its similarity to a Belgian design. Sano said he had never seen the Belgian logo, for a theatre group, while the Belgian designer hinted at legal action.
Olympics officials told Japan in an IOC session in Malaysia that it sees no problem with the logo, which includes black for diversity and a red circle that echoes the Japanese flag, centred around a loose representation of the letter "T".
The Tokyo 2020 committee was pleased with the feedback, said CEO Toshiro Muto.
"The Tokyo Organising Committee and the IOC have gone through work on this and gone through the proper procedures for a long time with this emblem (logo). So we believe we have gone through the correct procedures and there is no problem over this. So the fact that the IOC have said the same thing makes us satisfied with how the IOC is dealing with this," Muto told Reuters in an interview.
The logo, which replaced a ring of Japanese cherry blossoms in rainbow colors used as a bid emblem, was unveiled on July 24.
Despite the negative news, Muto said the Japanese are enthusiastic about the Games especially before a meeting to discuss the introduction of new sports of particular appeal to Japanese audiences.
As part of the reforms initiated by IOC president Thomas Bach, Games hosts can bring in one or more sports popular in their country to help boost ratings and attract greater sponsorship.
"It will be the first time in Japan that the organising committees will be able to advance new sports for their Olympics under the Agenda 2020 and that is why there is a lot of interest in Japan on this subject. So we indeed make sure we go through the correct and fair procedures and get the approval of public opinion. Once that is done, I believe Tokyo will be the first time that new sports will be introduced under this new system and we expect there to be a lot of excitement over it," said Muto.
The administrators of eight sports, hoping to be included in Tokyo's 2020 Olympics, will be questioned by the Games organizer in Tokyo next week.
IOC officials also told Japan there was no need to apologise for scrapping their proposed new Olympic stadium for the Tokyo 2020 summer Games after the estimated costs climbed to $2.1 billion.
Tokyo is hosting the rugby World Cup tournament in 2019 but has had to scrap plans to hold the final in the new stadium as there will not be time to finish a revised stadium before early 2020.
IOC vice-president John Coates, who is head of the co-ordination commission for Tokyo, said the organisers were on track with everything else and he had nothing but praise for the way things were progressing.
"We'd have liked the stadium to have commenced but we couldn't run and they couldn't run with those costs. We've just got to make sure we work with them to make sure the next design isn't expensive and that it's finished on time but everything else they've been very good," Coates told Reuters. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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