Olympics & Paralympics

Tokyo Games committee welcomes Bach at State Guest House

Photo by Tokyo 2020 / Jiji Press
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, second from left, and IOC President Thomas Bach, right, hold talks at a welcome ceremony held by the Tokyo Games organizing committee Sunday at the State Guest House in the Motoakasaka district in Tokyo.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:28 JST, July 19, 2021

A welcome ceremony for senior officials of the International Olympic Committee was held Sunday at the State Guest House in Tokyo by the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

About 40 people attended the ceremony. Attendees included IOC President Thomas Bach; John Coates, chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Tokyo Games; Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga; Tamayo Marukawa, minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games; Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike; and Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita.

Yoshiro Mori, former president of the organizing committee, is also said to have been in attendance.

Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii performed at the ceremony, which was conducted without meals or alcoholic beverage service.

During the event, protestors rallied outside the guest house gates, calling for cancellation of the Games.