Tokyo to stage IOC's 2020 vision

 

	First	Run-off	Final
Tokyo (JPN)	42	-	60
Istanbul (TUR)	26	49	36
Madrid (ESP)	26	45	-

TOKYO will stage the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020 after beating Istanbul and Madrid in a vote at the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires last night.

The Japanese capital, which has hosted the Summer Olympics previously in 1964, was seen as the favourite before the ballot, having successfully allayed concerns about the nuclear fallout from Fukushima.

Japan was a safe choice for the IOC, after the still potentially risky decisions in favour of Sochi and Rio de Janeiro.

The Asian powerhouse has the world's third-largest economy by GDP and has hosted big sporting events in the past, including the football World Cup in 2002, and two Winter Olympics in 1972 and 1998. Just a year before the Olympics arrive back in Japan, it will also host its first Rugby World Cup.

As a city, Tokyo will not have too much to do to be ready for 2020. Except for the planned renovation of the National Olympic Stadium, this should be a relatively stress-free seven-year build-up - and this was ultimately the decisive factor in the IOC vote.

Pity poor Madrid - defeated now in three successive bids to bring the Games to the Spanish capital, a desire so desperately borne out of Barcelona being such successful hosts in 1992.

Since then, though, the Spanish economy has boomed and busted - worse than many in Europe with as much as a quarter of the population unemployed. Youth unemployment has been particularly bad.

The Madrid bid tried to counteract that by promising a budget Games with over 80% of its planned venues having already been built. But, one of its slogans - "a realistic bid for realistic times" was not exactly awe-inspiring.

Indeed, according to Olympic historian Robert Livingstone, the no-frills approach would not exactly have been music to the committee's ears. "The IOC doesn't like cheap. It likes monuments to the Olympic movement," he said. 

Nevertheless, it was still a surprise to see the Spaniards ousted in a run-off vote following a dramatic first round tie with Istanbul.

Even the presence of a Crown Prince Felipe, a former Olympic sailor, could not swing the vote, though - with the need for a first round run-off, Istanbul must have known it was up against it.

After all, the Turkish capital had endured a difficult run-up to yesterday's vote. Political unrest this summer had put the government in a poor light following the deaths of eight people and over 8,000 injuries amid accusations of police brutality.

Some of the protests were at proposed Olympic sites, with economic concerns again among the demonstrators' grievances.

Moreover, a series of doping scandals involving Turkish athletes came at the worst possible time (though doping was an issue which also hampered the Madrid bid). 

Ultimately, then, for a fifth time, the outstanding attraction of hosting the Olympics on two separate continents at the same time had been outweighed by far more pragmatic concerns.

Not that the Tokyo bid had been entirely worry-free, of course, despite the weakest field of candidates for over 30 years.

In fact, with only three finalists, this was the fewest number of candidate cities for a Summer Olympics since Seoul beat Nagoya in 1981.

The Japanese may have lost back then but they succeeded this time after tackling their main issue - Fukushima - head on.

Bid leader Tsunekazu Takeda was at pains to stress that the high-profile nuclear leak is under control.

"The radiation level is absolutely safe. The 35 million people in Tokyo are living in normal conditions. There is no problem. Not one person in Tokyo has been affected. Tokyo and Fukushima are almost 250km apart," he said in Buenos Aires.

Takeda's comments were echoed by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said: "Let me assure you the situation is under control. It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo."

Next, the IOC session will move onto two other big selections. Today, three sports - baseball, squash and wrestling - compete for a place at the 2020 Games.

With Japan's victory in the bidding process and an Olympic history which goes back to ancient times, wrestling is the strong favourite. An announcement will be made at 5pm BST.

Finally, on Tuesday, the IOC will elect a new president to replace the outgoing Jacques Rogge.

For this, there are six men, and no women, standing. They are: Thomas Bach of Germany, Ng Ser Miang of Singapore, Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, Wu Ching-kuo of Chinese Taipei, Denis Oswald of Switzerland, and Sergey Bubka of Ukraine.

Bubka is easily the most famous name on the list, having won the pole vault in Seoul with an Olympic record, but Bach - who also won gold as a fencer in Montreal 1972 - is favourite for the role.

Bach would largely be seen as an extension of Rogge, the quiet 71-year-old Belgian surgeon. Asked to reflect on his time at the top, Rogge was characteristically modest.

"I did my duty," he said. "I did what I had to do. If it has benefited the IOC, I'm happy." Almost as happy as the Japanese today, perhaps.


SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES HOSTS
†= Cancelled due to WW1 or WW2

1896	I	Athens, Greece			1960	XVII	Rome, Italy
1900	II	Paris, France			1964	XVIII	Tokyo, Japan
1904	III	St Louis, USA			1968	XIX	Mexico City, Mexico
1908	IV	London, UK			1972	XX	Munich, West Germany
1912	V	Stockholm, Sweden			1976	XXI	Montreal, Canada
†1916	VI	Berlin, Germany			1980	XXII	Moscow, Soviet Union
1920	VII	Antwerp, Belgium			1984	XXIII	Los Angeles, USA
1924	VIII	Paris, France			1988	XXIV	Seoul, South Korea
1928	IX	Amsterdam, Netherlands			1992	XXV	Barcelona, Spain
1932	X	Los Angeles, USA			1996	XXVI	Atlanta, USA
1936	XI	Berlin, Germany			2000	XXVII	Sydney, Australia
†1940	XII	Tokyo, Japan then Helsinki, Finland			2004	XXVIII	Athens, Greece
†1944	XIII	London, UK			2008	XXIX	Beijing, China
1948	XIV	London, UK			2012	XXX	London, UK
1952	XV	Helsinki, Finland			2016	XXXI	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1956	XVI	Melbourne, Australia			2020	XXXII	Tokyo, Japan