Tokyo will host Olympic Games in 2020
Tokyo is chosen to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games ahead of Istanbul and Madrid. Associated Press Tokyo has been chosen to host the 2020 summer Olympic Games by the event\’s organising committee, beating out Istanbul and Madrid in the final vote tally.
All three cities made impassioned pleas to the International Olympic Committee during presentations on Saturday.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emphatically promised the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant would have no negative effect on Tokyo, while his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the IOC to choose Istanbul and help "send a strong message of peace to the whole world".
Madrid emphasised it was ready, dependable and safe, with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy telling members "numbers don\’t lie".
Tokyo\’s win comes after two years of intense lobbying and tens of millions of dollars in campaigning by all three candidate cities.
With each city wrestling its own demons, the usual beauty parade became a "least ugly" contest, as they frantically attempted to conceal their blemishes and win the right to host the world\’s biggest sporting extravaganza.
Ninety-five IOC members voted in the first round, with two excused.
Madrid was initially knocked out, with Istanbul and Tokyo advancing to the second round of voting.
All three cities have made Olympic bids before. This is the fifth for Istanbul, the third in a row for Madrid and the second in a row for Tokyo, which hosted the Games in 1964.
Top officials from each country joined the final presentations to better each city\’s chances of hosting the world\’s largest sporting event. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his counterparts Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Mariano Rajoy of Spain flew to Argentina\’s capital, Buenos Aires, straight from the G20 summit in Russia.
Hosting the Olympics can be a huge boost for a city, bringing in massive amounts of tourism revenue and creating an opportunity for a prominent place on the world stage.
Source: Agencies
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