Morinari Watanabe, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said of the bribery scandal surrounding the sponsorship agreement for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, "It could undermine Japan's position in the world of sports." It showed a sense of crisis due to its size.

Mr. Watanabe responded to an exclusive remote interview with NHK in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he is staying.



In it, Mr. Watanabe commented on the bribery case related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics sponsorship contract, saying, ``The IOC has set the principles of transparency and integrity as its pillars as it advances its medium- to long-term plan for reforming the Olympic Games. It is only natural that people would be outraged if there were people who were trying to profit from it." He added, "It would not be strange for the IOC to take measures such as not allowing Japanese athletes to participate in international competitions as a penalty. This could undermine Japan's position in the world's sports world."



In addition, regarding the impact on Sapporo's bid for the 2030 winter games, he said, ``Of course, it is a major premise to come up with measures to prevent such an incident from happening again, and the IOC will determine that part. While Salt Lake City and Vancouver, which are currently raising their bids, are also formulating countermeasures, the clear value of holding the Olympic Games in Sapporo for the sake of Japan's change will be presented to the world. It will not work unless measures are taken," he said.

Some experts point out that IOC measures are having an impact

In March 2021, before the opening of the Tokyo Games, the IOC adopted a new 15-item reform plan for the Olympics, aiming to achieve by 2025, under President Bach, who is in his second term.



This reform plan is to further promote the medium- to long-term reform plan "Agenda 2020" adopted in 2014, the year after Bach assumed office. I have to."



Specific proposals also included items that required highly transparent governance not only for the IOC but also for organizations related to the Olympics, emphasizing efforts to eradicate corruption and injustice.



On the other hand, some experts point out that the background to the incident like this is due to the measures taken by the IOC to make the Olympic Games financially sustainable.



Kyoko Kurita, a professor at Chukyo University who is familiar with the history of the Olympics, said, ``The conventional format of only the world's largest companies being involved in the Olympics has little merit for the local community, and the situation is that the number of cities that want to host the Olympics will decrease. Under these circumstances, we have come up with a policy to have local companies do the work as much as possible.While that has created money, there is also the aspect that we have created a structure that creates fraud like this one." talking