Rio, Tokyo problems in spotlight

After Beijing vote, IOC members refocus on more pressing issues

A day after a high-profile vote awarded Beijing the 2022 Winter Games, International Olympic Committee members on Saturday dealt with issues affecting the next two Summer Games - severe water pollution in Rio de Janeiro and the fuss over Tokyo's choice of an emblem.

Earlier this month, the Japanese government threw out the design plans for the main stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Games amid public criticism of the $2 billion price tag, which was nearly double the original estimate and would have made it the world's most expensive sports stadium.

Tokyo organizing committee head Yoshio Mori later apologized, a gesture IOC president Thomas Bach said wasn't really necessary.

But Tokyo officials now find themselves involved in another controversy over an emblem they unveiled - based on a 'T', standing for Tokyo, team and tomorrow. But the 2013 logo for a theater in Liege, Belgium, has similar shapes in white against a black backdrop and the designer of that logo says it will approach the IOC and ask for the Games emblem to be changed.

IOC vice-president John Coates of Australia, who heads the coordination commission for the Tokyo Games, said the IOC did everything required ahead of the emblem's unveiling.

"The IOC and Tokyo checked all of the copyright registers," Coates said. "We have looked at both designs and we don't think we have a problem," said Coates.

Mori said the logo was developed over six months and "we've gone through the proper processes."

In other Tokyo news, Coates said the number of extra athletes as a result of new sports being added to the program will be capped at 500. Eight sports are on a short list for consideration, with a final decision to be made by the IOC next August.

Tokyo organizers are expected to recommend baseball and softball, both popular in Japan. But the 500-athlete quota - which Mori said he'd heard only for the first time on Saturday - would likely only allow baseball and softball, and possibly one other sport to be added, owing to the number of players on those team sports.

On Rio's polluted water issues, Brazilian organizing committee chief Carlos Nuzman said he is not planning any changes.

"I can confirm here the sailing competition will not be moved to any other venue," he told delegates during an update on preparations for the 2016 Games.

This week, Associated Press published findings of a five-month study that looked specifically at viruses present in water being used for rowing, sailing and wind surfing, triathlon and open-water swimming at Rio. The tests concluded athletes risk exposure to viruses that could make them too ill to compete.

Rio spokesman Mario Andrada promised the organizing committee would do more over the rest of this year and early next year to clean up floating waste in Guanabara Bay and other waterways.

"The water around the bay currently complies with national and international standards," Andrada told the IOC.

In other news on Saturday from the 128th IOC session:

During a discussion on ethics, Bach was asked whether the IOC keeps track of funding it provides to national Olympic federations, without referencing soccer body FIFA's recent corruption scandal.

"National federations are accountable to their general assemblies, what we request are audited statements of accounts," Bach said. "But we cannot interfere in individual decisions of individual federations. We do our best."

Greek IOC member Lambis Nikolaou asked why the stadium used for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics could not be "renovated or retrofitted" for use in 2020.

Coates reminded Nikolaou the old National Stadium was demolished this year. The new stadium will be built on the same site.