JAPAN: OLYMPICS - Tokyo celebrates its 2020 Olympics bid two weeks before the vote

Record ID: 214039

  • Title: JAPAN: OLYMPICS - Tokyo celebrates its 2020 Olympics bid two weeks before the vote
  • Date: 23rd August 2013
  • Summary: ENGLISH SIGN: TOKYO 2020 CANDIDATE CITY
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: General,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA664PP53NAGVD0SXWQOS2IPVRG
  • Story Text: A special ceremony was held in Tokyo on Friday (August 23) to celebrate the city's 2020 Olympics bid two weeks before the decision is taken on September 7.
    The Japanese capital held the 1964 games, while fellow candidates Istanbul and Madrid would be debutants.
    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be going to Buenos Aires, where the vote will be held and he told people at Friday's ceremony: "Let's make it so that the announcement of 'Tokyo 2020' resounds through Buenos Aires. I'll also be going to Buenos Aires. Tokyo 2020! Let's do our utmost!"
    Tokyo has also enlisted the help of a cartoon character as a special Olympic ambassador: Doraemon, a robotic cat.
    Doraemon told the audience: "I hope to support everyone who is heading to the IOC meeting to have the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo! I wish you all the best of luck!"
    In Tokyo's bid, 85 percent of the 35 venues would be within an 8 kilometre (5 mile) radius of the Olympic Village; 20 of them would be new and 11 of those would remain as permanent additions to the city's sports facilities.
    Japanese Olympic Committee President and head of the Tokyo 2020 bid Tsunekazu Takeda told people at the ceremony: "I hope to once again return to Japan after we have definitely made the Tokyo olympic bid succeed."
    The Tokyo 2020 bid president has assured the International Olympic Committee that the city has already made financial provision for the games with a large reserve fund set aside.
    Separately, Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose sought to calm fears over radiation after the crippled Fukushima this week leaked highly contaminated liquid, pushing the danger level higher.
    "The current radiation levels in Tokyo are the same as Paris or New York. As such, the Fukushima situation is something that needs to be dealt with swiftly, but I don't believe it is something that is directly linked to Tokyo's Olympic and Paralympic bid," Inose told a news conference.
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