Thomas Bach, who is president of ICO, was present at the Hempel Sailing World Championships, which is being held at Aarhus in Denmark. He was there for the Sunday event and he chatted up with the media there to talk about the future that lies ahead for Olympic sailing in Tokyo as well as technology in this world.
In terms of organizational aspects he stated that there is not much to worry about since the World Sailing organization was already working closely with the Japanese authorities. The sports perspective would get stronger in the competitions and sailors would also get quality competition to take part in.
Sailing is known to be a classic sport of Olympic levels, but the challenge lies in making the sport appealing to the young generation. At the Olympics there is also a focus on making the experience more appealing to the spectators. There is much being done about that, both in the way the regatta is designed as well as the kind of technology to be involved in making the games a thrill for the spectators to enjoy.
Regarding the World Championships in Aarhus, he stated that the event was great for the sailors who were participating; the atmosphere was akin to an Olympic village where competitors are at ease with each other. Also the program had been designed in a sustainable way that was heartening to find.