Media

ITU President and IOC member Marisol Casado has touched down in Japan for a series of meetings and conferences, visits to Tokyo 2020 Olympic venues and to deliver a keynote speech ahead of the Triathlon Test Events, running from 15-18 August in the purpose-built Odaiba Bay venue.

On Thursday 8 August, Ms Casado addressed the XV Asian Association for Sport Management Conference, delivering the latest news from the IOC Gender Equality Review Project, undertaken by the IOC Working Group of the same name of which Ms Casado is chair and which forms a central element of the IOC Agenda 2020. “For me it is always a great pleasure and also a responsibility to forge a new path in advancing gender equality within the sporting arena and beyond”, she explained.

Further appointments during the visit include a call with the Japanese Olympic Committee’s recently elected President and former Olympic judo champion Mr Yamashita Yashiro, visits to the Olympic speed skating and ice hockey venues and, of course, the forthcoming Tokyo Test Event: the Tokyo ITU World Olympic Qualification Event.

Ms Casado arrived in Japan following a visit to Beijing to observe the latest triathlon legacy project from the 2008 Olympics. The city’s National Olympic Sports Centre hosted the first ever ‘stadthlon’ triathlon race, using a purpose-built pool within the stadium for the first segment. The ITU president was impressed by the continued growth and innovation of the sport in the country as it gears up to host another first; the inaugural ITU Multisport World Cup in Wenzhou in September.

“It is fantastic to see how our sport is evolving and growing in the region, and the boost that the Olympic Games will bring once again to triathlon and to all other sports in the next few months. I really want to thank the Chinese Federation and authorities, as well as Shin Otsuka and the Japanese Triathlon Union, for organizing all these activities that will sum up perfectly in the Tokyo Test Event, which will be an incredible display of our sport at its best”, Ms. Casado said.

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You can watch all of the action from the Tokyo Test Events, including the Elites, Mixed Relay and Paratriathlons, on TriathlonLIVE.tv from 15-18 August.