Speaking in the Japanese capital, John Coates, IOC vice president, urged the country’s senior Olympic delegates to meet the deadline so that tests can be run before the Games start in August of the same year.
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Japan said Tuesday that it can not guarantee the main stadium for the 2020 Games will be completed by January that year as requested by the worldwide Olympic Committee.
That provides Japan three months lower than the deliberate April 2020 handover.
“I can’t simply say (sure to) January 2020”, Endo stated.
Coates also stressed that the IOC is not demanding the stadium have a minimum capacity of 80,000, which was the number of seats in the original design by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid.
“April (2020) is the target we could barely make, and moving up the schedule further at this point is hard”, Endo said.
He said: “The stadium has to be available for ceremonies and rehearsals”, Coates said.
Endo maintained in the meeting that the IOC’s demands were a” heavy request ” that he could not accept immediately.
This design was scrapped in July following a public outcry over the 252 billion yen ($2 billion) price tag – which was almost double the original estimate and would have made it the most expensive sports stadium ever.
Tokyo’s previous National Olympic Stadium, which had hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, was closed in 2014 to make way for the new facility.
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The government is expected to come up with a new plan as early as by the end of this month, detailing the stadium’s costs and construction schedule.
