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Olympics 2020: Tokyo Wins Race To Host Games
BBC NEWS
September 8, 2013: Tokyo has been chosen to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games ahead of Istanbul and Madrid. The Japanese capital won a final round of voting by International Olympic Committee (IOC) members in Buenos Aires to beat Istanbul by 60 votes to 36. Madrid had earlier been eliminated in a first-round ballot.
Dan Roan
BBC chief sports correspondent, in Buenos Aires
There were huge scenes of celebration from the Tokyo delegation - it means a huge amount to them. There are always frontrunners and outsiders in any bidding process but what went on here in the last few days and hours proved decisive. Madrid appeared to have the momentum but Tokyo's presentation was wholly impressive.
The announcement was met with jubilant scenes in Japan, as Tokyo prepares to host the event for the first time since 1964. When IOC president Jacques Rogge - who will retire after 12 years in the role on Tuesday - announced the winning city, the Tokyo delegation jumped to their feet in celebration and waved the Japan flag. A number of them were overcome with emotion and wept, following two years of intense lobbying.
"I would like to thank everyone in the Olympic movement and we will host a wonderful Olympic Games," a delighted Prime Minster Shinzo Abe said. Bid leader Tsunekazu Takeda added: "It is a great honor that Tokyo has been chosen. The first thing I will do when I return is to thank all of Japan."
London mayor Boris Johnson sent "huge congratulations to Tokyo for winning the honor of hosting the greatest sporting spectacular on the planet". He continued: "I am sure that, like London, your great city will put on an extraordinary event. This is a magical moment of celebration to savor before the years of hard work ahead."
Tokyo residents greeted the announcement with jubilant scenes at Komazawa Olympic Park The decision means Tokyo - which campaigned with the message that "the Olympics will be safe in our hands" - will become the first Asian city to host the Games twice. They were also awarded the event in 1940 but the Games were cancelled because of World War II.
The success of the Tokyo bid followed a personal address from the Japanese prime minister during the presentation stage, in which he allayed fears over the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant 150 miles (240km) from the city by saying: "It has never done, and will never do, any damage to Tokyo." The plant had been leaking radiation after an earthquake and tsunami hit the north east of the country in 2011.
"I cannot believe it," Japanese fencing Olympic silver medalist Yuki Ota told BBC Sport. "A thousand times I imagined Jacques Rogge opening the paper - it has become a reality. "After the earthquake everyone in Japan was depressed but now we have to make a dream come true."
For Istanbul, their campaign had not been able to overcome concerns about serious political unrest in the country, a series of doping scandals among the country's athletes, the jailing of political opponents and journalists, plus the conflict in neighboring Syria. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had flown to Buenos Aires from the G20 summit in Russia to argue the Turkish city's case. But his efforts were to no avail, and Istanbul registered its fifth failed bid. If it had been successful, it would have been the first Games in a predominantly Muslim country.
In Madrid, tens of thousands of people were left dejected in the city's Puerta de Alcala square when the news was announced that it had failed for a third straight time to win the summer Games. The Spanish capital's presentation - which featured former Olympic sailor Crown Prince Felipe - had emphasized providing a "sensible, reliable and trustworthy" Olympics but ongoing worries about the economy undermined the bid, along with the recent Operation Puerto doping scandal.
Olympic hosts since 1972
1972: Munich, West Germany
1976: Montreal, Canada
1980: Moscow, Soviet Union
1984: Los Angeles, US
1988: Seoul, South Korea
1992: Barcelona, Spain
1996: Atlanta, US
2000: Sydney, Australia
2004: Athens, Greece
2008: Beijing, China
2012: London, UK
2016: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2020: Tokyo, Japan
