Photo/Illutration The Olympic logo appears in Sapporo. (Kengo Hiyoshi)

Sapporo city has suspended activities to promote its bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics, saying it should first regain public trust that was lost over the corruption scandals surrounding the Tokyo Games.

The city government and the Japanese Olympic Committee on Dec. 20 held a news conference in Tokyo, saying they are now reviewing Sapporo’s bidding process.

“We should not be rushing around blindly, disregarding appearances,” Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto said. “Rather, it makes more sense for us to dispel people’s worries and distrust.”

The bribery and bid-rigging allegations involving the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee triggered the course-changing decision in Sapporo, Akimoto said.

He said the city in early fiscal 2023 will redraft its general outline on how it would operate the Sapporo Olympics and Paralympics with an emphasis on transparency and integrity.

The mayor also said Sapporo’s direction was affected by the International Olympic Committee’s announcement on Dec. 6 that it would delay indefinitely a final decision on choosing the 2030 host city.

After the IOC announcement, Sapporo and the JOC discussed what would be needed to gain the public’s understanding for the city’s bid.

They concluded that one requirement would be to “change the way in which all kinds of tasks are focused in one particular advertising agency.”

Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee official, is suspected of receiving bribes from companies that were later named as sponsors of the sports extravaganza.

Takahashi is a former official of Dentsu Inc., the nation’s largest advertising agency, which wielded enormous power over selecting sponsors and other operational aspects of the Tokyo Games.

Akimoto said Sapporo Olympics organizers would not subcontract work to Dentsu or other agencies. They will also review the makeup of the organizing committee.

The revised general outline will reflect these changes, officials said.

Akimoto also said the city and the JOC will conduct another survey on the public’s views toward hosting the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, based on the new general outline.

A similar survey was conducted on residents of Hokkaido, including those in Sapporo, in March this year.

About 52 percent of respondents supported the city’s bid, while around 38 percent were against it.

But opinions have changed since March in light of the bribery and corruption cases over the Tokyo Olympics.

Some Sapporo city assembly members said it was no longer possible to “foster momentum for the bid only by hosting events,” a source said.

Akimoto initially opposed the idea of conducting another survey.

But he changed his position, saying that he now wants to “ask all people” to take part in the future survey.

(This article was written by Osamu Hiura and Kaho Matsuda.)

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