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On 24 August, the Olympic flag landed at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, from the city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The arrival of the flag in Tokyo was marked with a ceremony attended by Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike (pictured above), President of the Japanese Olympic Committee and IOC Member Tsunekazu Takeda, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee CEO Toshiro Muto, Japanese Olympic team captain Saori Yoshida and Olympic Games Rio 2016 flagbearer and decathlete Keisuke Ushiro. Over the coming year, the Olympic flag will be exhibited in more than 62 sites around Tokyo and in the three prefectures affected by the 2011 earthquake, to further reinforce the momentum of support for the Games built up in Japan during Rio 2016. Tokyo 2020 also announced the appointment of Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. as a Tokyo 2020 Official Partner, the second domestic tier of its sponsorship programme. The company has been attributed the category “Construction and Residential Development”. This brings the total number of Tokyo 2020 domestic partners to 40, including 25 Official Partners.On 12 October, the IOC’s Coordination Commission concluded its first visit to Beijing, praising the host of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games for its adherence to the vision presented during the candidature phase.“Beijing 2022’s vision of creating a world-class winter sports centre in a region of 300 million people is becoming a reality,” Commission Chair Alexander Zhukov said. “It is a formidable opportunity to have such excellent facilities for skiing and other snow sports so close to a major city.”The three-day visit began on 10 October with a tour of the ice venues in Beijing. The Coordination Commission members took gondolas to the snow sports venue cluster in Zhangjiakou after earlier visits to venues for Alpine and Nordic skiing in Yanqing.The commission also visited Beijing 2022’s new headquarters in a converted steel plant on the western edge of the city, and held discussions with the Organising Committee focused on five main topics: governance; sport; venues and infrastructure; commercial; and communications and engagement.“We are pleased with what we have learned. Beijing 2022 is off to a fast start. Initial preparations are well on track,” IOC Vice-President Juan Antonio Samaranch said at a closing news conference with Beijing 2022 Executive Vice-President Zhang Jiandong. In his closing comments, Vice-President Zhang said: “During the meetings and inspections, the Coordination Commission and Beijing 2022 held in-depth and effective discussions and reached consensus on a wide range of aspects, and further defined the directions and priorities for the Games preparation. We have achieved fruitful results.”In keeping with the guidance provided by Olympic Agenda 2020, the Beijing 2022 Games concept is closely aligned with long-term development goals for Beijing and neighbouring Hebei Province. The Games, which will take advantage of a planned high-speed rail link between the city and the mountains, are designed to expand participation in winter sports and create a new “Sport, Culture and Tourism Belt” in northern China.“Our site visits in Zhangjiakou and Yanqing confirmed that Beijing 2022 remains fully committed to the legacy goal of developing world-class winter sports facilities,” Vice-President Samaranch said. “Their success will accelerate growing participation in winter sports among the 300 million people in this region and throughout China.”STRONG START FOR BEIJING 2022 OLYMPIC FLAG ARRIVES IN TOKYOLeft Beijing 2022 hopes to expand participation in winter sports across ChinaOpposite Several events will be held at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre during the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 201818 OLYMPIC REVIEW