Cycling Pushes Hard for Tokyo 2020 Venue Deal

(ATR) The UCI has pitched three venue proposals to Tokyo 2020 in a bid to ensure the Olympic velodrome is not moved more than two hours from the city.

Around the Rings has learned that UCI president Brian Cookson conveyed the federation’s ongoing concerns to ASOIF president Francesco Ricci Bitti on Monday. They focus on Tokyo’s plans to relocate the arena, along with the BMX and mountain bike courses to the city of Izu.

Ricci Bitti has made the UCI's concerns known to the IOC’s coordination commission currently in Tokyo inspecting Games preparations through Wednesday.

ATR understands that the UCI management committee restated its opposition to host track cycling in Izu two weeks ago and backed Cookson’s fresh attempts to find alternative solutions to that plan.

Cookson discussed the venue issues with IOC president Thomas Bach at a meeting in Lausanne last week.

While the UCI respects Tokyo 2020’s push to cut costs in line with the IOC’s Agenda 2020 reforms, officials are extremely disappointed that Games organizers have scrapped bid commitments for cycling venues.

In its negotiations with Tokyo Olympic chiefs, the UCI has underscored cycling’s Olympic profile. It is ranked in the second highest ASOIF revenue distribution category and was one of the most successful sports at the London 2012 Olympics.

Cookson is keen to protect and enhance cycling’s position at the Games.

The UCI says Izu would not be the best possible showcase at Tokyo 2020 and suggest Olympic organizers are trying to close down some of the BMX and MTB options.

Chief among the federation’s concerns are the impact of any venue relocation on the athlete and spectator experience, media exposure, security, transport facilities and accommodation.

Track cycling and BMX were originally slated for Ariake in central Tokyo, the velodrome a temporary venue to be dismantled post Games to make way for a housing development. Costs rocketed from $65m to $172m, leading to Tokyo 2020’s new plan to move track cycling to an existing indoor 250m velodrome in Izu.

The UCI is dissatisfied with the distance from central Tokyo – 130km and 2.5hrs total travel time – as well as the low 4,534 capacity, rather than 6,000. The federation also argues that Tokyo 2020 lacks a strong legacy argument for the venue; installation of seating and removal post-Olympics would cost an estimated $52 million.

Cookson has presented three alternative venue proposals with the Tokyo metropolitan area, which have been costed with Swiss company Nüssli, the leading supplier of temporary sporting structures. Each would cost less than the $52 million cost of modifying the Izu velodrome, according to the UCI.

The first is installing a temporary track in an existing facility. Another solution is building a temporary venue on an available football pitch, baseball pitch or parking lot as near as possible to the Olympic Village.

The third and most expensive proposal is to construct a permanent velodrome with legacy plan in Hachioji City, located 40km west of Tokyo, venue for track and road cycling competitions at the 1964 Games. This is costed at $45 million.

For BMX, Ariake remains the favored option, although the UCI has presented two other possibilities. The UCI is pushing hard for the Sea Forest South site, included in the initial bid, to be used for the mountain bike course.

Speaking to ATR recently, Cookson described Izu as "impractical" and said: "I don’t think a series of separate world championship events in different parts of the host nation are necessarily in line with the original spirit of the Olympic Games."

ASOIF executive director Andrew Ryan told ATR that the umbrella association for the 28 Summer Olympic sports "appreciates that big progress has been made in agreeing the competition venues with the international federations.

"We remain confident that agreement will soon be reached regarding those that remain to be finalized," he added.

On Monday, the head of the IOC’s coordination commission for Tokyo 2020 said he expected that the venue issue would be resolved by the time of the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31.

Reported by Mark Bisson

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.