Olympics
TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC CHIEFTAIN RESIGNS FROM IOC AND AS JOC PRESIDENT OVER BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS
BY JAMES DIAMOND
Tsunekazu Takeda has resigned as President of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) following bribery allegations linked to the successful bid from Tokyo 2020.
Reports that he would step down initially emerged last week, with the official now announcing his resignation formally at a news conference in Tokyo.
The 71-year-old, the son of Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda and great-grandson of the 19th century Emperor Meiji, will also leave his role as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, where he was chair of the influential Marketing Commission.
He had been a member of the IOC since 2012.
According to the Japanese news agency Kyodo News, Takeda, while denying the allegations, apologised for the disruption he had caused.
He will officially depart as JOC President on June 27 when his term ends.
“It is most appropriate to leave the JOC to younger leaders as we await the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and have them open up a new era,” he reportedly said following a meeting of the JOC’s Board,” he said.
“I have not committed any wrongdoing.
“I will strive to prove my innocence.”
Takeda’s position first came under scrutiny in January after it emerged he had been indicted in France on corruption charges.
Tadeka is suspected of authorising the payment of bribes in order to help Japan’s capital secure the hosting rights for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
At the time French newspaper Le Monde reported that Takeda is being investigated for “active corruption”.
It concerns payments worth $2 million (£1.5 million/€1.75 million) made to Singaporean company Black Tidings before Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in 2013.
The account holder has been closely tied to Papa Massata Diack, the son of the disgraced former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Lamine Diack, who is currently being held in France and facing corruption charges.
It is alleged the payments were directed to the elder Diack, an influential voting IOC member at the time.
Authorities in France suspect corruption or money laundering by an unknown person.
Tokyo defeated Istanbul by 60 votes to 36 in the second ballot.
Madrid had been eliminated in the first round.
Takeda has always protested his innocence and was initially backed to stay as JOC President despite the controversy.
At the start of February, Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshirō Mutō claimed there was no reason for Takeda to step down and Takeda himself initially appeared resistant to leave.
He at first chose not to self suspend himself from the IOC, in contrast to other members who have found themselves embroiled in similar cases.
According to Kyodo News, the catalyst for Takeda’s decision to step down reportedly came after IOC President Thomas Bach turned down an invitation to attend one-year to go celebrations for Tokyo 2020 on July 24, for fears of being associated with Takeda.
Just two weeks ago Takeda was re-elected as vice-president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) after the organisation’s Ethics Committee cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Amid this latest revelation it is now unclear whether he will remain in that position and insidethegames has contacted the OCA for comment.
Takeda had been JOC President since 2001 and was serving his 10th term.
The alleged payment of funds was first reported in 2016 but a Japanese probe at the time later concluded that there was no illegality.
In a statement sent to insidethegames the IOC said they “greatly respect” Takeda’s decision to step down.
“The IOC takes note with the greatest respect of the decision taken by Mr Takeda to resign as an IOC member,” they said.
“Our respect of this decision is even greater because he took this step to protect the Olympic Movement while the presumption of innocence, on which the IOC insists, continues to prevail.”
It is now less than 500 days until the Ceremony of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo on July 24 next year.
Tickets for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will go on sale to the general public on April 9, organisers said on Monday, as LA28 also moved to reassure fans over ticket security by naming a group of verified resale platforms that will begin operating in 2027.
A presale for residents in qualifying areas of Los Angeles and Oklahoma City will begin on April 2, with notification emails for selected buyers set to roll out from March 31 through April 4, LA28 said.
On April 7, the organising committee will notify remaining registrants whether they were selected for a purchase window in the first general sales round, known as Drop 1.
“This week marks the first opportunity for fans to claim a seat at the LA28 Olympic Games,” LA28 Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement.
LA28’s ticketing programme will include 1 million tickets priced at $28, the lowest price point. Roughly 5% of the Olympic tickets will cost over $1,000, while more than 75% of all tickets, including finals, will be under $400 and nearly 50% of all tickets will be under $200.
“Tickets are comparable to and in many cases well under what we see for other professional sporting and major entertainment events in the U.S.,” Allison Katz-Mayfield, LA28 Senior Vice President, Games Delivery Revenue, told reporters on a call.
RESALE PROGRAMME
Separately, LA28 said its verified multi-platform resale programme would open in 2027, with AXS and Eventim serving as the official secondary ticket marketplace and Ticketmaster and Sports Illustrated Tickets also designated as verified resale platforms.
The announcement comes as organisers prepare for the first ticket drop and seek to warn fans against buying from unauthorised sellers before the resale programme launches.
LA28 said primary tickets would only be sold through its official ticket service providers, AXS and Eventim. It added that any LA28 tickets offered for resale before 2027 should not be considered verified.
“While LA28’s resale platforms will not be launched until 2027, having a variety of platforms was critical to providing fans multiple points of access to verified tickets,” Hoover said.
LOCAL PRESALE
Fans who registered for the LA28 ticket draw and whose billing postal codes fall within qualifying counties were automatically entered into the local presale draw. Those selected will receive 48-hour purchase windows running from April 2 through April 6 and must use a payment method tied to a billing postal code in an eligible county to complete their purchase.
For both the local presale and Drop 1, selected buyers will have 48 hours to purchase tickets, while any tickets placed in a cart must be checked out within 30 minutes. Buyers may complete multiple transactions during their allotted window until they reach the ticket limit.
LA28 said tickets would be available across all Olympic sports, as well as for the opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and the closing ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Fans selected for time slots may buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, plus up to 12 tickets for the soccer tournament that will not count toward the general Olympic-event limit. Ceremony tickets will be capped at four per buyer and will count towards the 12-ticket maximum.
Registrants who are not assigned a time slot in either the local presale or Drop 1 will be automatically entered into future draws, LA28 said. Paralympic tickets are due to go on sale in 2027.
Ticket-inclusive hospitality packages from official provider On Location are also expected to go on sale in April. Visa will be the official payment method for purchases.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games unveiled the event’s official visual identity on Monday, a floral-themed design system meant to reflect the city’s landscape, neighbourhoods and cultural character.
The branding will appear across competition venues, fan areas, citywide installations, signage, digital platforms and broadcast presentations during the Games, LA28 said.
At the centre of the design is the “Superbloom,” a reference to the bursts of wildflowers that can blanket parts of Southern California after periods of rain.
LA28 said the concept was intended as a metaphor for the Games, with years of preparation culminating in a short, high-profile global event.
The core graphic is built around 13 individual blooms, which organizers said represent different elements of Los Angeles, from its entertainment culture to its neighbourhoods, people and native landscape.
The colour palette draws on the Bird of Paradise, the official flower of Los Angeles, and is grouped into four families – Poppy, Scarlet Flax, Bluebell and Sagebrush – to evoke the region’s terrain and vegetation.
Organizers said the typographic style was inspired by Los Angeles street signage, including strip mall and hand-painted storefront lettering, in an effort to give the identity a distinctly local feel.
LA28 said the design was developed to work across a wide range of settings, from nearly century-old venues to new facilities, while also accounting for broadcast requirements, digital formats and lighting conditions. The organising committee partnered with design studio Koto on the project.
The identity was unveiled more than two years before the Olympic opening ceremony in what organizers described as an unusually early rollout, allowing partners and stakeholders more time to incorporate the branding into their materials.
Los Angeles will host the Olympics for a third time in 2028, after staging the Games in 1932 and 1984. It will also host the Paralympics for the first time.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics said on Monday that registration for the first ticket draw will close on March 18, as the Games begin to take shape with the first baseball qualifiers confirmed and the soccer tournament schedule expanded.
More than five million fans from 197 countries and territories have registered at tickets.la28.org since January for a chance to buy tickets, LA28 said, underscoring strong early demand for the Summer Games, which are due to open on July 14, 2028.
Fans who register by the March 18 deadline will be eligible for a lottery to receive a purchase window for the first ticket release, scheduled for April 9-19.
There will also be a local presale running from April 2-6 for eligible residents in parts of Southern California and Oklahoma. Oklahoma City will host softball and canoe slalom.
LA28 said selected applicants would be notified by email between March 31 and April 7. Fans picked for the first sale window will be able to buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, subject to availability, with a four-ticket cap for each of the opening and closing ceremonies.
BASEBALL RETURNS
The ticketing update comes as the first teams booked places in the Olympic baseball tournament through the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic and Venezuela secured qualification spots from the Americas, joining host United States in the six-team field.
Baseball, one of the sports added to the LA28 programme, will return to the Olympics for the first time since the Tokyo Games and will be played at Dodger Stadium from July 13-19. The remaining three places will be decided through international qualifying tournaments in 2027 and 2028.
LA28 also confirmed that the Olympic soccer tournament will begin on July 10, four days before the opening ceremony, following a decision by the International Olympic Committee Executive Board to extend the competition window.
Organisers said the longer schedule would give teams two additional rest days compared with previous Games.
Group-stage and quarter-final matches will be staged in seven U.S. cities – New York, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose, San Diego and Pasadena – with the men’s and women’s gold medal matches to be played at the Rose Bowl.
LA28 said kickoff times and the full schedule would be released later this year.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- World Cup1 week ago
World Cup Fans, Players And Officials Face $15,000 Visa Bonds to Enter U.S.
- AFCON5 days ago
AFCON to Expand to 28 Teams as CAF Unveils New Competition Calendar
- World Cup3 days ago
Infantino promises FIFA backing for Iran to play at World Cup
- World Cup1 week ago
Jamaica Edge New Caledonia to Set Up Decisive World Cup Showdown with DR Congo
- AFCON5 days ago
CAF May Sanction Senegal Over AFCON Trophy Parade
- Governing Bodies5 days ago
BREAKING! Nigeria’s Samson Adamu Appointed Acting CAF General Secretary
- Table Tennis4 days ago
Aruna Faces Tough Draw as Africa Targets Glory at ITTF World Cup in Macao
- World Cup1 week ago
New Zealand players willing to play World Cup opener against Iran outside the US