The IOC will study the suggestions that there may have been wrongdoing ahead of Tokyo winning the race for the 2020 Olympics ©Getty Images

Evidence suggesting an athletics sponsorship deal may have unfairly influenced Tokyo's victory in the race for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will be studied by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to "better understand" the claims being made, insidethegames has been told.

Discussions between unnamed Turkish officials and Khalil Diack, son of then-International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President and voting IOC member Lamine, concerning the bidding process, were referred to in a footnote of the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Independent Commission report published here yesterday.

It is suggested that a sponsorship deal paid by Japan, but not Turkey, may have led to Diack and allies voting for Tokyo rather than Istanbul.

"It is stated that Turkey lost Lamine Diack's support because they did not pay sponsorship moneys of $4 million (£2.8 million/€3.7 million) to $5 million (£3.5 million/€4.6 million) either to the Diamond League or IAAF," the report claims.

"According [sic] the transcript the Japanese did pay such a sum."

The WADA investigators added that "it was not in their remit" to investigate further.

"We have already asked the Independent Commission for the transcript so that we can better understand the context and the claims being made," an IOC spokesperson told insidethegames today.

Possible wrongdoing in the 2020 Olympic race, won by Japanese capital Tokyo, was mentioned in a footnote in the WADA Independent Commission report ©Getty Images
Possible wrongdoing in the 2020 Olympic race, won by Japanese capital Tokyo, was mentioned in a footnote in the WADA Independent Commission report ©Getty Images

Istanbul finished runner-up behind Tokyo after losing the final round by 60 votes to 36 during the 2013 IOC Session in Buenos Aires after Madrid had been eliminated after a runoff in the first round of voting.

Diack served as an IOC member from 1999 to 2013, when he became an honorary member after passing the maximum age limit of 80.

An influential figure, it is possible he may have controlled a bloc of voters who would have acted on his wishes.

The 82-year-old Senegalese was provisionally suspended before resigning as an honorary IOC member in November following his arrest as part of a French criminal investigation into the alleged accepting of bribes to cover-up Russian doping failures.

Other factors, including the popular demonstrations across the city in the months ahead of vote, are also seen to have contributed to Istanbul's defeat.

“The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee considers that the note in the report is beyond our understanding," said Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Hikariko Ono.

"The Games were awarded to Tokyo because the city presented the best bid.

"Tokyo’s bid was about Japan’s commitment to address issues around the integrity of sport.

"Today, Tokyo 2020 is even more committed to contributing to safeguard the place of sport in society in these fast-changing and challenging times for sport."

The timing is hardly ideal for Tokyo organisers, who are also dealing with other problems including the hunt for a new logo after their initial choice was dropped amid plagiarism allegations ©Tokyo 2020
The timing is hardly ideal for Tokyo organisers, who are also dealing with other problems including the hunt for a new logo after their initial choice was dropped amid plagiarism allegations ©Tokyo 2020

Senior IOC member and WADA Independent Commission chairman Richard Pound, who led the investigation into the Salt Lake City corruption scandal in 1999, is confident there are no significant problems within IOC bidding races today.

“I am fairly confident about the Olympic side," he said.

"We have done an enormous amount since 1999, to make sure that cannot happen.

"If there is gonna be individual bits of corruption you can’t stop all that.

"But organisationally I don’t think that’s an issue with the Olympics."