- Title: FILE: OLYMPICS: Tokyo bids for compact and futuristic 2020 Olympic Games
- Date: 26th August 2013
- Summary: (FILE - LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND) (FILE - JULY 3, 2013) (REUTERS) JOURNALISTS WAITING FOR JAPANESE DELEGATION (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) NAOKI INOSE, TOKYO GOVERNOR AND CHAIRMAN OF TOKYO 2020 BID COMMITTEE, SAYING: "The presentation went well, we didn't make mistakes. The charm of Tokyo worked. This is the appropriate city for Olympics Games and Paralympics Games 2020. Chrystel Takigawa spoke in French during the presentation. We have shown all our capacities." JOURNALISTS ASKING QUESTIONS
- Embargoed: 10th September 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- City:
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVAD9RAX0O9MQJD70F9O4K4D2T27
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- Story Text: Tokyo is one of three cities bidding to host the 2020 Olympic Games, with the decision to be made on September 7.
The Japanese city is the only one of the candidates, Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo, to have hosted an Olympic Games before, in 1964.
Tokyo bid organisers emphasise the compactness of their offer for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with 85 percent of the venues located within an 8 km (5 mile) radius of the Olympic Village.
Of 35 Olympic venues, 20 would be built anew, and of those eleven would be permanent additions to Tokyo's sports facilities.
Many of the venues would be clustered in the developing Tokyo bay area of the city, including a number of manmade islands such as Odaiba and Wakasu which would host sports events.
Plans to renovate the Olympic stadium used in the 1964 games have been shelved after Tokyo secured the 2019 Rugby World Cup competition. Now the old stadium will be demolished, if Tokyo wins the bid, and a futuristic new Olympic stadium will be constructed to seat 80,000 spectators. It is planned that this new stadium would host rugby and soccer matches during the games as well as the athletics events and opening and closing ceremonies.
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 to pay for the event.
As Tokyo is already a densely-populated city, it has a good public transport system and good communication links.
The bid took a dent when Tokyo governor and 2020 bid committee chairman Naoki Inose made remarks detrimental to rival candidate Istanbul during a newspaper interview. He subsequently apologised for his remarks.
After presenting the Tokyo bid to IOC members, Inose said: "The presentation went well, we didn't make mistakes. The charm of Tokyo worked. This is the appropriate city for Olympics Games and Paralympics Games 2020."
The IOC will deliver its verdict after a September 7 meeting in Buenos Aires, Arg - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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