The 2020 Olympics go to... Tokyo! IOC Vote Japan Capital over Madrid and Istanbul
Daily Mail UK, 8 September, 2013
Tokyo will host the Olympics and Paralympics in 2020 after seeing off rivals Madrid and Istanbul in dramatic circumstances to win the vote. It will be the second time the Japanese capital has hosted the Games having previously done so in 1964.
The vote by the International Olympic Committee meeting in Buenos Aires saw Tokyo win the first round of voting with Istanbul and Madrid polling the same number of votes.
A tie-break saw Madrid eliminated by four votes to set up a final round between Istanbul and Tokyo with the Japanese city emerging triumphant.
Party time: Japanese fans go wild after hearing they will host the Olympics
Decision: IOC President Jacques Rogge announces that Tokyo has won the vote
Tokyo won by 60 votes to 36 in the final round of voting - a comprehensive victory which came despite some IOC members expressing concern over leaks at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which is 150 miles from the capital.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tackled the issue head-on in Tokyo's final presentation, promising the IOC: 'I shall take the responsibility to implement programmes to render this situation completely problem-free and I say that most emphatically and unequivocally.'
Tokyo's cause was helped in no small way by the presence of Cambridge-educated Princess Hisako of Takamado, and a bravura performance in its final presentation by Paralympic athlete Mima Sato.
Hisako, the first member of the Japanese Imperial family to have ever addressed the IOC, delivered Tokyo's opening speech of the presentation and pushed all the right buttons.
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Ecstatic: Members of the Tokyo 2020 delegation over the moon with their victory
Going mental: Japanese fencer Yuki Ota screams his delight at the decision
Overcome by emotion: Brits will know exactly how the Japanese delegation felt
Sato, who lost a leg following bone cancer and competed in the long jump at the London 2012 Paralympics, said: 'What we have seen is the impact of the Olympic values as never before in Japan. And what the country has witnessed is that those precious values - excellence, friendship and respect - can be so much more than just words.'
For Istanbul, bidding for the fifth time, there was bitter disappointment yet again.
The Turkish city had been the frontrunner for so long but suffered a series of damaging blows later in the campaign: the protests in Taksim Square in June - a proposed Games venue - a major doping scandal, the jailing of political opponents and journalists last month and the rising threat of war in next-door Syria.
What a day! Fans back in Tokyo ready to party after winning
Victory: Former Japanese Olympic athletes celebrate as Tokyo is chosen to hold the 2020 Olympic Games
Standout: The picture used by Tokyo in their bid to host the Games in 2020
Celebrations: More elation at the Buenos Aires Hilton hotel where the decision was made
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Erdogan tried to address the issue, telling IOC members: 'We live at a time when our region and the world crave for peace.
'And at this critical moment, we would like to send a strong message of peace to the whole world from Istanbul, the city of friendship and brotherhood.'
Madrid had had high hopes for their royal trump card in the form of Crown Prince Felipe, a former Olympic sailor, but even his contribution could not convince enough IOC voters.
Asian Olmypics: The Japanese city beat Madrid and Istanbul to have the honour of hosting the Games
Altogether: Japanse and Turkish fans alongside each other in Argentina
The Spanish city's main message had been staging a low-cost Games in a country which is struggling with its economy, and Felipe told members: 'Some people around the world have questioned hosting the Games in a time of economic uncertainty.
'But I don't see this as a threat to the Olympics, I see it as an opportunity. The benefits of sport are measured in generations, not in dollars.'
Not this time: A miserable Spanish fan after Madrid were knocked out of the running
Anxious: Turkish fans were out in force in Istanbul awaiting the final vote
Quote:
IMPERIAL PRINCESS KEY TO TOKYO
It may have been Tony Blair and David Beckham 'what won it' for London but Tokyo's success in winning the vote to host the 2020 Olympics may be due, in no small measure, to their Cambridge-educated Princess Hisako of Takamado.
The Imperial princess, who graduated from Girton College in 1975, delivered Tokyo's opening speech to the IOC in perfect BBC English that pushed every single button among the 100 or so industrials, royals and ex-Olympians who make up the membership of sport's most elite club.
Tokyo 2020 had to jump through hoops to satisfy the Japanese Imperial family that protocol would allow the princess to come to Buenos Aires to support the bid, and it will be hugely grateful its pleas were answered.
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