TOKYO: Visiting International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has awarded former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the Olympic Order in Gold for his contribution to the Olympic movement.

“With your unfaltering belief in the power of sport, it is no exaggeration to say that you have forged a special friendship with the Olympic community,” Bach said in an awarding ceremony at the Japanese Olympic Museum in Tokyo on Monday.

Abe is the 63rd Japanese recipient of an Olympic Order and the first in four years.

He said he receives the order on behalf of all Japanese earnestly hoping and working to make the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games a success next year.

Abe gave a speech at the September 2013 IOC session where Tokyo won its bid to host the Olympics.

In March this year, he proposed the postponement of the games by one year to summer 2021 following the spread of the novel coronavirus around the world.

After leaving office as prime minister in September, Abe gained the title of honorary supreme adviser to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee.

JIJI Press