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Olympic organizers reveal plans for scaled-down Tokyo event

Tokyo 2020 organizers are proposing to cut the number of officials at next year’s Olympics by 10 to 15% as part of a wider package of cost-reduction proposals, it was announced on Friday.

The Games, which were supposed to get underway in July, are now scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8 in 2021 after they were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Over 50 measures to simplify the Games have been proposed by the IOC’s coordination commission, which Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said would provide an example of how future Olympics could be streamlined in a post-Covid-19 world.

Other proposed measures include reduced invitations for both the opening and closing ceremonies, removal of team welcome ceremonies at the Olympic Village, a shorter opening period for training venues and fewer officials having access to official bus services, instead having to rely on public transport.

Although the length of the 121-day torch relay will not be shortened, the number of staff present and use of official vehicles will be reviewed.

John Coates, chairman of the Tokyo 2020 coordination commission, said the cost-cutting measures took into account the Games’ stakeholders and infrastructure, among others.

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He added that organizers planned to report the amount of costs to be cut at the next virtual IOC executive board meeting which is scheduled to take place on October 7.

Transgender women athletes banned from female Olympic events by new IOC policy

GENEVA (AP) — Transgender women athletes are now excluded from women's events at the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday which aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order on sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. “Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females,” the International Olympic Committee said, to be determined by a mandatory gene test once in an athlete's career. It is unclear how many, if any, transgender women are competing at an Olympic level. No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, though weightlifter Laurel Hubbard did at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 without winning a medal. The eligibility policy that will apply from the L.A. Olympics in July 2028 “protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category,” the IOC said.
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