Waseda University and Tokorozawa City have entered into an official agreement with the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) on the use of pre-Olympic Games training camp by the Italian Olympic team in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The signing ceremony, held at the Embassy of Italy on Wednesday, October 31, was attended by many guests of honor including Giorgio Starace, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan and Yasuo Saito, Vice President of the Japan Olympic Committee as well as Koji Murofushi, Sports Director of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Ippei Watanabe, a fourth- year Waseda University student and member of our swimming cub, who is a world record holder in 200-meter breaststroke.
More than 200 athletes of track and field, swimming, and other sports and other relevant parties are scheduled to visit our Tokorozawa campus for pre-Games training camp. We plan to build a new dormitory next to the campus that can accommodate about 100 guests.
Alessandra Sensini, Vice President of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) said, “We are very grateful to President of Waseda University and other supporters who welcomed and provided invaluable assistance to us. I am confident that our mutual cooperation will help build a stronger bond between us as we move forward. We would sincerely like to reward your kind welcome and generous hospitality with results.”
Taking this opportunity, we will go ahead with preparations for pre-Games camps for the Tokyo 2020 Games as well as further promote specific initiatives to strengthen relations with them.
Message from President Kaoru Kamata （Summary）
We are very honored to enter into agreement with the Italian National Olympic Committee on the pre-Games training camp for Italian teams participating in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
It was back in March last year that Tokorozawa City received an inquiry from Italy seeking an approval for re-training camp. We have since discussed feasibility with the Italian National Olympic Committee including by visits to our Tokorozawa campus. In October last year, we concluded MOU with the Italian National Olympic Committee, Tokorozawa City, and Saitama Prefecture.
We have long been engaged in cultural and academic exchanges and industry-university cooperation with Italy. New exchanges have also started such as joint hosting of a sports nutrition symposium and accommodation of Italian walking team on pre-Games training camp for the world championships.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Games will not only provide tangible legacies like new facilities to us, but also create intangible legacies in the form of memory when athletes representing Italy share our Tokorozawa campus and communicate with our students. We are very pleased to able to build a new kind of Olympic legacy like this, and we sincerely hope that the relationship between Italy and Japan will become even deeper.
