Host city For 2020 Olympics: Who Did The IOC Pick?

Tokyo Wins Bid to Host Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020

The competition between cities across the world to host Olympic Games is fierce. Cities vying for the honor to host games spend millions in preparation and lobbying efforts to showcase why their venues meet the strict demands of the Olympic Committee.

For the 2020 Summer Games, formally known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, the field narrowed down to Madrid, Istanbul, and Tokyo.

However, the looming specter of an American war in Syria with Turkey hosting allied war efforts and the memory of the 2004 Madrid train bombings by Al Qaida proved too much for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to stomach. In the end, they admitted that they favored the “safe” choice which is Tokyo, Japan.

“Tokyo can be trusted to be the safe pair of hands and much more,” bid leader and IOC member Tsunekazu Takeda said in the final presentation. “Our case today is simple. Vote for Tokyo and you vote for guaranteed delivery. … Tokyo is the right partner at the right time.”

“Congratulations to the city of Tokyo on its election as host of the 2020 Olympic Games,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge, whose 12-year term in office comes to an end on 10 September. “Tokyo presented a very strong technical bid from the outset – and it needed to in competition with two such high-calibre bids from Istanbul and Madrid. All three cities were capable of staging excellent Games in 2020, but in the end it was Tokyo’s bid that resonated the most with the IOC membership, inviting us to “discover tomorrow” by delivering a well-organised and safe Games that will reinforce the Olympic values while demonstrating the benefits of sport to a new generation.”

This will be the first time that Japan has hosted Olympic Games since the 1998 Nagano games and the first time in 56 years that the nation will have hosted summer games. The secret voting by the IOC gave Tokyo an overwhelming victory in the final vote by a score of 60-36 over Istanbul.

Tokyo lobbied hard to persuade the IOC that they have contained the radiation leaks from the Fukushima reactor while playing up the “safe hands” mantra that ultimately prevailed.

Voting Results:

Round 1
Tokyo: 42
Istanbul: 26
Madrid: 26

Round 1 tie-breaker
Istanbul: 49
Madrid: 45

Round 2
Tokyo: 60
Istanbul: 36

On the Web:
Tokyo will host 2020 Olympics
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130907/oly-2020-vote/