Thomas Bach welcomes future Japan Olympic bid after Sapporo withdrawal

LAUSANNE – Outgoing International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said on May 8 that Japan is “very much welcome” to bid for another Summer or Winter Games, once issues such as corruption surrounding the staging of past events are addressed.

Sapporo dropped its bid for the 2030 Winter Games in October 2023 following

bid-rigging and bribery scandals linked to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games

, which were postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the northern city subsequently unable to convince a sceptical public of the bid’s merits.

“(A future hosting bid is welcome) if we can be sure on the IOC side that these Japanese business practices, this kind of corruption, is over and has been addressed,” Bach, who will become the IOC’s honorary president for life in June, said in an interview with Kyodo News.

“We understand what happened there within Japan because of the business practices of some Japanese business people... We also hope that this leads to a clarification and adaptation of Japanese business practices.”

The 71-year-old German said Japan remains a major presence in the Olympic movement, noting its continued role as host of various international tournaments across sports, including the 2026 Asian Games, as well as the success of its athletes, who won a record 20 gold medals and 45 overall at the Paris Games last summer.

Bach, who has led the IOC since 2013, said he believes all parties involved recognised that his decisions during a tumultuous period – marked by doping scandals, a pandemic and international conflicts – were made with good intentions.

“I could help the Olympic movement to overcome so many challenges and where I could, make it possible for the athletes to have the Olympic Games. I was in the position you need to be as an IOC president,” he said. “Sometimes I was a little bit tough or too tough on one or the other because I absolutely wanted to get there and was demanding a lot... (but) they always realised that it was done in good intention and that it was done to accomplish the IOC mission.”

Welcoming the idea of Japan bidding to host the new Olympic Esports Games, Bach said the highlight of his tenure came after the closing ceremony in the French capital, when he realised the Olympic agenda had been fulfilled by delivering a “sustainable, urban, young, joyous” Games.

Bach, who is set to receive the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace on May 9, voiced strong support for his successor, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, who is poised to become the first female and first African IOC president following her election in March.

“I know that she has this very clear compass of the Olympic values,” Bach said.

“She has been elected because she has the professional and the human qualities to be a very good president of the IOC and lead the Olympic movement in an even better future.” KYODO NEWS