Weather, Russia are Japan's concerns

TOKYO • Uncertainty over Russia's participation for the third consecutive Olympics and concerns over the heat hang heavy over Tokyo 2020 preparations, with only six months to the Games' opening ceremony.

Tokyo has avoided many of the crises that have dogged previous tournaments - International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach has said the hosts are unparalleled in their preparations.

Facilities are also completed well ahead of schedule, while tickets are massively oversubscribed ahead of its July 24 start.

But elements largely out of organisers' control have overshadowed the run-up to the Summer Games, 56 years after it was first held in Tokyo.

Chief among these is whether Russian athletes will compete after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) imposed a four-year ban from international sporting events over what it views as a state-sponsored doping scheme.

Moscow has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but sources have told Agence France-Presse a decision is not expected before May, just weeks before the Games open.

Bach has urged CAS, the world's highest sports court, to give a decision that "does not leave room for any kind of interpretation", warning of "real, total confusion" if the ruling is not watertight.

Russia's up-in-the-air participation follows confusion at the 2016 Rio Games, where the IOC allowed individual federations to decide whether to permit athletes to compete.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the IOC barred the Russian Olympic Committee, but allowed clean Russian athletes to take part as neutral competitors.

Even less predictable is the weather, which has resulted in the unprecedented moving of the marathon event to Sapporo over safety concerns.

To combat the hot and humid Tokyo summer, where the temperatures can exceed 40 deg C, organisers have rolled out a series of measures, including artificial snow and cooling mist sprays.

Officials are also carrying out emergency drills should a natural disaster strike, with Japan being one of the world's most active seismic regions and prone to typhoons.

Acknowledging Bach's praise, Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto added: "We're not complacent. We will do everything possible, I will do my best."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE