Summary The Olympic Stadium will be built in November 2019, Murasato said
PRAGUE (AFP) - Tokyo will complete its first venue for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games next March, organisers said on Friday, with the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza to host badminton, fencing and modern pentathlon events.
"It will be next to the Tokyo stadium where football, modern pentathlon and rugby" will be played, Aki Murasato from the Tokyo 2020 organising committee told a meeting of national Olympic committees in Prague.
Held from July 24 to August 9, 2020, the Games will feature 11,090 athletes competing in 339 events of 33 sports, Murasato said.
Most of these events will take place in an infinity symbol-shaped area in Tokyo, divided into the Heritage Zone and the Tokyo Bay Zone, he added.
Of the facilities to be used in the Heritage Zone, 60 percent already exist, including five from the 1964 Tokyo Games, he said. Five new venues will be built in the Tokyo Bay Zone.
The Olympic Stadium will be built in November 2019, Murasato said.
The Olympic Village, due to be completed by the end of 2019, will be located in the middle of the area.
"The majority (of athletes) will be accommodated in less than 30 minutes from their competition venues," Murasato said.
Some events, including cycling, sailing, baseball or softball, will be held outside Tokyo.
Murasato said sustainability was key -- while the Olympic medals will be made of metal from used mobile phones, like in Rio 2016, timber used to build the Sport Plaza will be "returned to the donating local government for reuse after the games".
