“I wonder if the event really puts the athletes first”: Toyota withdraws from IOC, denounces Paris Olympics as too “political”

Toyota ne sera plus partenaire des Jeux Olympiques. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

Toyota met fin à son partenariat avec les Jeux Olympiques, trop politisés pour de nombreux partenaires japonais.

Toyota a annoncé qu'il ne reconduirait pas son partenariat avec le Comité international olympique (CIO), à la suite des JO de Paris, en évoquant l'influence“increasingly political” of the event, which relegates athletes to the background.

In 2015, the Japanese automaker signed a 10-year sponsorship deal with the IOC. “I have been wondering for some time whether the event really puts the athletes first”, said Akio Toyoda, Toyota president, adding that he felt the event was becoming “increasingly political” in a podcast released Thursday on the company's YouTube channel.

“To me, the Olympics should simply be about athletes from all walks of life, facing all sorts of challenges, accomplishing the impossible,”, Mr. Toyoda had recently judged. The automaker follows another Japanese company, Panasonic, in also ending its collaboration with the IOC.

Panasonic was the first to pull out

Panasonic announced its withdrawal earlier this month, citing "management considerations". The electronics giant said on Sept. 10 that it had agreed with the IOC not to extend its sponsorship deal when the current contract expires in December. Panasonic became an “Official Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Games” in 1987 and extended its sponsorship to the Paralympic Games from 2014.

The group is continually reviewing how sponsorship should evolve

But it has decided to discontinue the partnership “as the group continually reviews how sponsorship should evolve with broader management considerations”. “Following this review, and after extensive consultation with the IOC, the parties have agreed not to renew the Olympic and Paralympic partnership agreement”, Panasonic said without giving details.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK also announced that it would cease sponsoring the Olympics.