Olympic 2020: Tokyo Deny Payment Allegations

Tokyo Olympic organisers have denied any knowledge of a £1m payment allegedly made during their bid to win the 2020 Games.

The Guardian newspaper reported that the Tokyo bid team “or those acting on their behalf” paid the money into a Singapore bank account.

The paper claimed the account was linked to Papa Massata Diack, the son of disgraced former IAAF president Lamine Diack.

French prosecutors confirmed in March they had widened their investigation into corruption at the IAAF to include Olympic bidding for the 2016 and 2020 Games.

Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Hikariko Ono said in a statement that the committee “has no means of knowing these allegations. We believe that the Games were awarded to Tokyo because the city presented the best bid.”

Lamine Diack resigned as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee last year.

He is under investigation by French authorities on charges of corruption and money-laundering related to the cover-up of Russian doping cases.

Skysports

Olympic 2020: Tokyo Deny Payment Allegations

Japan Unveils Tokyo 2020 Olympic Logos

Japan’s Olympic organisers have unveiled the new official logos of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The logo, called Harmonized Chequered Emblem, replaces the first choice which was thrown out last year after the designer was accused of plagiarism.

The designer denied stealing the idea.

Organisers said the new design used traditional Japanese colours and patterns to represent the intercultural themes of the Games.

“It incorporates the message of ‘unity in diversity’,” they said, and the idea that the Games “seek to promote diversity as a platform to connect the world”.When designer Asao Tokolo found out he had won the re-opened contest he said “my mind has gone blank”.

“I put a lot of time and effort into this design as though it was my own child.”

The first design was rejected after Belgian artist Olivier Debie alleged it copied his design for a theatre logo.

The Games organising committee never agreed to the allegation of plagiarism but said there were too many doubts over the emblem for it to be used.

The logo dispute came shortly after Tokyo decided to scrap the designs for the main Olympic stadium because of spiralling construction costs.

A cheaper design, by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, was chosen in December last year.

BBC

Japan Unveils Tokyo 2020 Olympic Logos