{"id":425250,"date":"2020-04-01T02:48:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T09:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=425250"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:52:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:52:16","slug":"tokyo-2020-board-members-paid-millions-gave-gifts-to-olympic-bosses-ahead-of-bid-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/tokyo-2020-board-members-paid-millions-gave-gifts-to-olympic-bosses-ahead-of-bid-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo 2020 Board Members ‘Paid Millions & Gave Gifts To Olympic Bosses Ahead Of Bid Vote’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tokyo 2020 Board member Haruyuki Takahashi,<\/strong> a former executive at the marketing agency Dentsu Inc,<\/strong> which counts FINA<\/strong> among its clients, was paid $8.2 million by the committee that spearheaded Tokyo\u2019s bid for the 2020 Games, according to financial records reviewed by Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive report, the news agency cites Takahashi as saying that his work included lobbying International Olympic Committee (IOC)<\/strong> members such as Lamine Diack<\/strong>, the ex-Olympics powerbroker who headed the IAAF track and field federation, now known as World Athletics.<\/p>\n

Takahashi admits to giving Diack, who is under investigation for corruption, gifts, including digital cameras and a Seiko watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re cheap,\u201d Takahashi tells Reuters.<\/p>\n

Despite Olympic rules that forbid acceptance of financial rewards and gifts beyond a certain level for IOC members and others involved in bidding processes, Takahashi tells Reuters:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t go empty-handed. That\u2019s common sense.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tokyo 2020 bid committee bank records seen by Reuters show that it paid around $46,500 to Seiko Watch, while the news agency reports:<\/p>\n

“A senior official at the bid told Reuters \u201cgood\u201d watches were handed out at parties organized as part of Tokyo\u2019s campaign to win the Olympics, although he did not specify the brand.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reuters reported that the “IOC regulations allowed for the giving of gifts of nominal value at the time of the 2020 bid, but didn\u2019t stipulate a specific amount.” However, the IOC made it clear to that that was not the case when noting to Swimming World:<\/p>\n

“We would like to make it clear that the rules of the candidature procedure for the Olympic Games 2020 clearly stated: ‘No gifts, of whatever value, may be given to or received by Olympic parties or the IFs of Olympic sports’.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beyond the gifts, the payment for lobbying work are highly significant in exposing the vastly lucrative bidding business that goes on behind the scenes of the Olympic Movement: the sums represent “the single largest recipient of money from the Tokyo bid committee, which was mostly funded by Japanese companies”, Reuters reports.<\/p>\n

The Tokyo bid committee also paid $1.3 million to a little-known non-profit institute run by former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori<\/strong>, the head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee.<\/p>\n