Minister Says Japan Will Struggle to Meet IOC's 2020 Stadium Deadline

Japan's Olympic's Minister Toshiaki Endo has said the country cannot guarantee it will be able to meet the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) deadline to finish work on a new National Stadium in time for the 2020 Olympic Games.

IOC vice-president John Coates has urged Japan to speed up construction work on the stadium for delivery by January 2020, which gives the country three months less time than the originally planned April 2020 handover.

Coates said he asked Japan’s senior Olympic officials to meet this deadline in order for the IOC to run a series of tests before the start of the Games in August 2020.

“The stadium has to be available for ceremonies and rehearsals,” Coates said.

“They need to have the handover to the organising committee by January 2020.”

However, Endo has insisted it may not be possible to meet this deadline as April was already a date they were struggling to fulfill.

“It was going to be April on a very tight schedule,” Endo said.

“I cannot easily say yes to January 2020. I can only ask contractors to finish the construction as quickly as possible. We have no idea if it’s doable.