IOC gives $25M more to Olympic athletes, teams as postponement cover

The International Olympic Committee is allocating more than $25 million to cover extra athlete and team costs related to the one-year postponement of the Tokyo Games.

The IOC said an extra $15 million will go to a program helping 1,600 athletes from 185 less well-funded countries prepare for the games in 2021.

More than $10 million is available for national Olympic bodies to cover additional operational costs such as travel and accommodation for officials.

The money is being awarded through the Olympic Solidarity program which aims to help all 206 national Olympic teams and the refugee team send athletes to the games.

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Meanwhile, an open conflict broke out on Tuesday (April 21) between Tokyo Olympic organisers and the IOC over who will pay for the unprecedented year-long postponement.

Tokyo spokesman Masa Takaya said the organizing committee has asked the Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee to remove a comment from its website suggesting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had agreed that Japan would shoulder most of the postponement costs.

Media reports in Japan estimate the year-long delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic will cost $2 billion to $6 billion. Neither side has given an official estimate, but Tokyo CEO Toshiro Muto has called the postponement costs massive.

“Its not appropriate for the prime ministers name to be quoted in this manner,” Takaya said on a 90-minute teleconference.

Related news: Tokyo Olympics: Organisers, IOC conflict over postponement losses

Japan is officially spending $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics, but a government audit report says its at least twice that much.

It’s all public money except for $5.6 billion from a privately funded organizing committee budget.

Under the terms of the Host City Contract signed in 2013 when Tokyo was awarded the games, the city of Tokyo, the Japanese Olympic Committee and local organizers are obligated to pay most of the costs of the Tokyo Games.