- Title: RUSSIA: OLYMPICS: Tokyo's 2020 bid team reflect on their presentation to the IOC
- Date: 30th May 2013
- Summary: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (MAY 30, 2013) (REUTERS) MEMBERS OF TOKYO'S 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES BID ENTER NEWS CONFERENCE HALL TOKYO GOVERNOR AND TOKYO 2020 CHAIRMAN NAOKI INOSE (ON LEFT) AND JAPANESE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PRESIDENT TSUNEKAZU TAKEDA (RIGHT, WITH GLASSES) SITTING AT TABLE ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TOKYO GOVERNOR AND TOKYO 2020 CHAIRMAN NAOKI INOSE SAYS: "First, we introduced ourselves to the people from both Istanbul and Madrid. And we talked about making the best efforts and playing fair. The most important goal here is that I will talk about the appealing points of Tokyo, Istanbul will talk about their appealing points and Madrid will talk about their appealing points. In Tokyo, we already visited the Turkish Embassy and apologized for my inappropriate remarks. And last Friday, ambassadors from 12 Arab countries travelled all the way to Toyo Municipal Building to enhance our friendships. We talked a lot on many topics. So, here again, we will talk with utmost effort about how Tokyo is exceptional." WIDE VIEW OF HALL (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TOKYO GOVERNOR AND TOKYO 2020 CHAIRMAN NAOKI INOSE SAYS: "Thank you very much. Today I told two stories about cash. First, we already and always have cash in the bank and we can withdraw the money anytime to prepare for the Olympics. This is the cash for preparation. And the second story is about Tokyo's hospitality. To explain this, I said, even if you drop your wallet in Japan, the wallet will be delivered with cash in it. So I discussed two topics about cash. Both points suggest that we can prepare for the Olympics. I wanted to show my passion to welcome the athletes of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics and audience to Tokyo warmly." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TOKYO GOVERNOR AND TOKYO 2020 CHAIRMAN NAOKI INOSE SAYS: "This is going to be our second Olympics in Tokyo, so I want to show that we can do this surely and orderly in this new 2020 Olympics. The important thing is to tell that we are confident to do this honestly, surely and safely. Let me give you one example. I could not talk about this at the presentation due to the limited time, but we had the Tokyo Marathon in February. We do this every year and I also ran last year. Of course, we had the marathon this year and 36,000 runners participated. They change clothes in front of the Tokyo Municipal Building and they ran and when they reached at the goal, which is 42.195 km away, all the runners were able to retrieve their own clothes. All 36,000 clothes came back to their owners. This is better than the hotel's cloakroom services. I believe Tokyo is the most exceptional on these matters. One more thing to add. Out of 36,000 people, two runners collapsed. We prepared AED machines in 70 locations. So before the ambulance arrived, we were able to save those two lives with the help of some spectators and runners. In short, there was no death toll. So I want to deliver such hospitality to the world. And I want people from around the world and athletes and spectators to feel together and enjoy that hospitality. For this reason, I want to explain fully what is safety and what is assurance." NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PRESIDENT TSUNEKAZU TAKEDA SAYS: "Out of these three cities, Tokyo is the only Asian Olympic bidding city. The power of sports which give dreams to the children of the future is very powerful. It is very important to tell young people about sports. And there are a lot of children in Asia. It is our role to tell the children as the representative from Asia. I told such things. Of course, I want to tell the same message to the children in the world." NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TOKYO GOVERNOR AND TOKYO 2020 CHAIRMAN NAOKI INOSE SAYS: "I have no intention of comparing to other cities. I said this so that people can understand that Tokyo can surely manage 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. And I said this so that we can manage this Olympics surely and safely with the cash prepared. I have many more reasons why we can host the Olympics in 2020." END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 14th June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA7BAL467QPH1SEIBGQPSZCJ32G
- Story Text: Members of Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 summer Olympic games spoke to reporters on Thursday (May 30) after their presentation to International Olympic Committee (IOC) members.
The three candidate cities, Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo, are all giving presentations to the IOC during its meeting in St Petersburg.
Tokyo says it will host most of the games within a compact area of the city, cutting down on travelling.
Tokyo's governor and chairman of the 2020 bid, Naoki Inose, began by assuring reporters that his relations with other candidate cities was good.
This followed his apologies to the organisers of Istanbul's bid for remarks that he made during a newspaper interview with The New York Times in April.
"Islamic countries, the only thing they share in common is Allah and they are fighting with each other," he said in the interview.
"First, we introduced ourselves to the people from both Istanbul and Madrid," Governor Inose told reporters.
"We talked about making the best efforts and playing fair. The most important goal here is that I will talk about the appealing points of Tokyo, Istanbul will talk about their appealing points and Madrid will talk about their appealing points. In Tokyo, we already visited the Turkish Embassy and apologized for my inappropriate remarks. And last Friday, ambassadors from 12 Arab countries travelled all the way to Toyo Municipal Building to enhance our friendships. We talked a lot on many topics. So, here again, we will talk with utmost effort about how Tokyo is exceptional," he said.
The Tokyo bid committee said, at the beginning of the year, that many of the venues for a games are already in place, and the money to finance hosting the games is already lodged by the Japanese government in an account.
Governor Inose repeated the information about the cash, and also about cash in visitors' wallets.
"First, we already and always have cash in the bank and we can withdraw the money anytime to prepare for the Olympics. This is the cash for preparation. And the second story is about Tokyo's hospitality. To explain this, I said, even if you drop your wallet in Japan, the wallet will be delivered with cash in it," he said.
Inose said that the 2020 bid, if granted, would be Tokyo's second Olympic games, and the city is well prepared for big sporting events. He explained that the Tokyo marathon saw 36,000 runners take part, and all of those runners' clothes were delivered to them at the finish line so that they could dress and leave. Inose also said that Tokyo provided 70 automated external defibrillator machines at locations along the route of the Tokyo marathon, so that any runners who suffered a heart attack could be treated by other spectators or runners - he said two runners had collapsed and been treated in this way, preventing any fatalities.
Inose refused to compare and contrast Tokyo with the other candidate cities.
"I have no intention of comparing to other cities," he said. "I said this so that people can understand that Tokyo can surely manage 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. And I said this so that we can manage this Olympics surely and safely with the cash prepared. I have many more reasons why we can host the Olympics in 2020."
The Japanese Olympic committee president Tsunekazu Takeda spoke of the power of sports to raise the aspirations of children, particularly children in Asia, as Tokyo is the only candidate city from Asia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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