Tokyo 2020 force IOC to remove a claim that the Japanese Prime Minster will bear the costs of delaying the Olympics until 2021

The Tokyo 2020 organisers and the Japanese government have demanded that the International Olympic Committee remove a claim from their website in which they claimed the Japanese Prime Minister agreed to pay the extra costs from delaying the games.

The quote on the IOC website said that the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, had “agreed that Japan will continue to cover the costs it would have done under the terms of the existing agreement for 2020, and the IOC will continue to be responsible for its share of the costs.” Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said there “is no such agreement related to additional cost stemming from the postponement.”

It is yet to be announced who will bear the extra costs from the games being postponed for a year due to coronavirus or how much these extra costs will amount to but it has been estimated that they could be anywhere between $2 billion and $6 billion. When host cities are awarded the games, it is agreed that the country and Olympic Committee will bear the majority of costs, but this delay is unprecedented and has caused economic difficulties in Japan.

John Coates, who is a member of the IOC, has said that the postponement will cost the IOC “several hundred millions of dollars” and said that the IOC’s first priority would be financially supporting struggling national committees rather than supporting the Tokyo games. 

The claim has been removed from the IOC website, but the IOC are yet to comment on the issue.