John Coates, chairman of the Coordination Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), smiles during an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Tokyo, Japan, on May 22, 2019. Hosting an Olympic Game means different opportunities for different countries, offering them chances to showcase the charisma of each nation, John Coates, chairman of the Coordination Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has said. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)
TOKYO, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Hosting the Olympic Games gives different opportunities to different countries, offering them the chance to showcase the charisma of each nation.
That's the view of John Coates, chairman of the Coordination Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who visited Tokyo last week to review the city's preparation work for the 2020 Games, and said that Olympic host countries are able to display their best side to the international community.
Taking Tokyo's first Olympic hosting in 1964 as an example, Coates said "it was an opportunity to tell the world about a lot of technological advances that have been made in this country."
"For Tokyo 2020, reconstruction is the most important thing. It is an opportunity for all of Japan to get involved," Coates said, adding that the Olympic torches will pass through all Japan's 47 prefectures, giving everyone an opportunity to see the torch and be inspired by it.
"Many teams are going to travel and prepare games around Japan. That's another opportunity. We've got athletes appearing in many prefectures, which is a great opportunity for young people to see them and also for good cultural exchanges," he said.
"We are pleased that we have baseball and softball events in Fukushima," he said, referring to one of the Japanese prefectures hit by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
"We are very pleased that material for the torches comes out of material salvaged from Fukushima. I went there late last year and was pleased to meet some children who had lost everything but had been playing baseball ever since. They've got sports and sports heal their wounds," he said.
Coates served as chef de mission at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and said he had had a wonderful experience with a strong team.
"The Beijing Olympics came at a time when there was a significant emerging middle class with great improvement in standard of living, accommodation and housing, and also in China's technological advancement and city construction. I think it was an opportunity to show the world what China has achieved," he said.
Upon reviewing the construction for next year's Tokyo Olympics, the official said he was pleased with the preparation work.
"All the venues are on time. We are very impressed with the new Aquatics Center that we have visited. It will be finished in February next year," he said.
Apart from the venues, the official said his team had also covered many other details, such as transport, accommodation, logistics and catering.
As for his expectations for next year's Tokyo Games, Coates said that "this will be an athlete-oriented game." He pointed out that as the Olympic Games has grown tremendously, a big improvement in terms of gender equality is reflected.
"At the 1964 Games, 5,151 athletes participated and only 678 of them were female, whereas about 49 percent of the 11,090 athletes in the 2020 Games will be female," he said.
The official said the overall scale of next year's Games will also be twice the size of the 1964 Olympics. There will be 339 events across 33 sports in 2020, whereas in 1964, there were only 163 events across 19 sports, he said.
Coates added that he was excited about the new sports featuring at the Olympics for the first time. "It will be an opportunity for more sports selected by Tokyo to encourage youth [participation], particularly sport climbing, as well as skate boarding and three-on-three basketball."
As to the ups and downs in the course of preparation work, such as the resignation of 2020 Olympics chief Tsunekazu Takeda over corruption allegations, Coates said, "He is entitled to presumption of innocence. He resigned because he did not want to interfere in any way with the final preparations."
