Tokyo 2020 Bid Add Top International Experts

Tokyo 2020 today unveiled the names of nine international technical experts who have been working with the Japanese team on the Olympic and Paralympic bid.. 

Masato Mizuno, bid CEO, said, “We are delighted to have first-class international support on the Tokyo team and simply passionate about building the best possible plan to stage a well-organised Games for the world’s athletes. 

“Building on the lessons learned in our previous bid, we are focused on delivering a clear, compelling Candidature File showing how the world’s most forward-thinking city will stage Games of excellence and excitement, all for the benefit of sport.” 

Australian Simon Balderstone, head of Ways and Means Consultancy, will be lending advice in the areas of communications, sport and the environment. Balderstone was a General Manager of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Organising Committee, and also served as an advisor to the 2004 and 2008 Games IOC Coordination Commissions. He also  has been an International Olympic Committee (IOC) advisor and member of the IOC Evaluation Commissions for the 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 Olympic Games. 

Diane Bernstein, of Diane Bernstein Design (DBD),will bring her expertise in the areas of Olympic Games concept and venue design expertise, advising on sports venues, Olympic Village and the Main Media Centre. Her experience includes both design and operational projects for the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games and she formerly worked with the previous Paris 2012 and Tokyo 2016 bid campaigns. 

Etienne Thobois, Edouard Donnelly and Franck Ladouce from the Parisian company Keneo, have experience organizing and managing big international sporting events. With experience from the Paris 2012 Olympic Games and French UEFA Euro 2016 bids they will bring expertise in the areas of Sports, Finance, Marketing, Technology, Media operations, Paralympics, Medical, Legal and customs and immigration. Thobois is a badminton Olympian and former IOC advisor and served as a member of the IOC 2016 evaluation commission.

CEO Neil Fergus and senior managers David Gray and Bob Costello of Intelligent Risks (IR) will focus on security and operational areas with their experience from working on numerous Olympic Games, including the highly successful Sydney 2000 Olympics. Intelligent Risks will oversee the security guarantees for Tokyo 2020 to host a safe, well-organised Olympic Games.

Fergus served as a Senior Adviser to the Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games as well as an Adviser for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Bid. Also Gray worked indepth with the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games and Costello worked closely with the Athens 2004 Games, the Beijing 2008 Games and the Tokyo 2016 Games Bid. 

The head of transport for the Athens 2004 Organising Committee, Panos Protopsaltis, was also behind the Rio 2016 transport plan. He also worked with the Paris 2012 and Annecy 2018 bids and is a former IOC expert as well. As well as being a former IOC expert he holds the IOC Olympic Order and also worked with for Torino 2006, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Organising Committees. 

He’ll be advising Tokyo 2020 as an international transport consultant targeting the extensive urban railway and road system to facilitate access. 

Tokyo 2012 announced at the end of May the new team of international experts which included Seven46 founded by Nick Varley is developing key messages and presentations, Weber Shandwick’s Svetlana Picou is assisting with strategic communications and PR. 

The team includes former Secretary General of the International Olympic Committee and Director of the Olympic Museum Françoise Zweifel, JAPPO founder and President Diamil Faye will be focusing on Africa, and Young-Sook Lee brings knowledge from working with the Korean Olympic Committee and the PyeongChang 2018 bid. 

Tokyo is competing with Istanbul and Madrid to host the 2020 summer Games. The final decision will be voted on September 7th in Buenos Aires at the IOC session.