Saturday 7 September 2013

Tokyo to host 2020 Olympic games

Members of the Tokyo bid committee celebrate as Jacques Rogge President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announces Tokyo as the city to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games (Reuters)

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.


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.

Lagos 2024?

2 comments:

  1. Lagos biti bawo, when osogbo still dey

    ReplyDelete
  2. buh reali why is africa being sidelined? Didnt the athletic world go to asia in 2008.. IOC should let the merry go round abeg

    ReplyDelete