After deadly summer heatwave, Tokyo plans dawn starts for 2020 Olympic marathon and race walks
- Temperatures peaked above 40 degrees Celsius in the Japanese capital this summer, killing at least 138 people and sending thousands more to hospital
John Coates, the chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Games, said an Olympic expert medical and scientific committee has recommended the marathon begin at 5.30am or 6am, although a final decision still needs to be confirmed with the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Morning rugby matches will now start at 9am, 90 minutes earlier than first planned, while mountain biking events have been shifted an hour later to start at 3pm to reflect concerns about the heat, Yoshiro Mori, the president of Tokyo 2020 told a news conference.
It was the second shift in the scheduling to combat the heat, only five months after Tokyo announced in July that the marathon start time would be brought forward to 7am, triathlons to 8am and race walking events would start between 6am and 7am.