Japan’s capital city, Tokyo, has won its bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games
The announcement, which was made at an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Buenos Aires, chose Tokyo over bids from both Madrid and Istanbul.
喜びの瞬間の写真が届きました!! 2020年 オリンピック・パラリンピック開催都市は、東京です!! pic.twitter.com/1egE3XCDJU
— Tokyo 2020 (@Tokyo2020jp) September 7, 2013
The members of the IOC eliminated Madrid in a first round ballot, and eventually crowned Tokyo the winner with 60 votes for and 36 going to Istanbul.
The BBC quoted the country’s prime minister Shinzo Abe as saying: “I would like to thank everyone in the Olympic movement and we will host a wonderful Olympic Games.”
Bid leader Tsunekazu Takeda added: “It is a great honour that Tokyo has been chosen. The first thing I will do when I return is to thank all of Japan.”
The decision means that Tokyo will become the first city in Asia to host the games twice – after originally holding the event in 1964.
It [the plant] has never done, and will never do, any damage to Tokyo Shinzo Abe
The accolade would have come sooner but the event in 1940, which Tokyo was due to host, was cancelled because of World War II.
Japan’s Olympic campaign had been running extremely smoothly until the last couple of week’s when reports were circulated that the Fukushima nuclear plant was leaking.
During a presentation Abe sought to allay fears, saying that “It [the plant] has never done, and will never do, any damage to Tokyo.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tvPubeNjmI
Istanbul’s bid was derailed by mounting protests and political unrest. The decision means that Istanbul will not be the first Muslim country to host a major sorting event; it will be Qatar and the 2022 World Cup.
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