The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are scheduled to be held in the summer of 2020. At the end of October, the IOC announced that the venue for the marathon, considered a highlight of the Olympics, and the walking races, for which Japanese athletes are expected to win gold medals, would be relocated to Sapporo City, Hokkaido. The sudden announcement caused a great deal of controversy in Japan. The reason for this decision was that, due to the heat, 40% of athletes dropped out of a walking race at the World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar last October. The IOC explained that, taking this into consideration, a decision had been made to hold the event in Sapporo, in order to avoid the heat in Tokyo. However, many people criticized the IOC saying that this decision was based on an “athletes first" policy. Summers in Tokyo are extremely hot, and people pointed out that when Tokyo was selected, the games should have been scheduled to be held during the milder autumn season as had been the case with the previous Tokyo Olympics. It is said that the reason summer was selected was that important sporting events were scheduled to be held in autumn in the USA - one of the Olympics’ biggest sponsors - and that it would be easier for broadcasters to free up airtime during this period. The Tokyo Metropolitan Goverment had taken counter measures against the heat for athletes. However, it has no right to decide on event venues, and as a result, criticism was mainly directed at the IOC’s governing body, which holds responsibility for the final decision. In recent years, injustices involving the IOC over the right to host the Olympics have occurred one after another. Some people say that it is the IOC itself that should be asked to play fairly.