Tokyo declares bid for 2020 Olympics

Tokyo will bid for the 2020 Olympics, hoping to show the world how it has recovered nine years after the devastation caused by the  March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Japanese Olympic Committee president Tsunekazu Takeda confirmed the Japanese capital’s candidacy on Saturday at a ceremony celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Japanese Olympic Committee.

   “Today, Japan is recovering from the tsunami and earthquake and we want to have the 2020 Olympics as a symbol of the recovery,” said Takeda.

   Tokyo, which lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the race to host the 2016 Olympics, was not discouraged by the South Korean city of Pyeongchang winning the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

   Last week, Pyeongchang beat European rivals Munich and Annecy, France, after narrow defeats for the 2010 and 2014 Games.

   International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, who attended Saturday’s ceremony, said on Thursday the IOC has no formal opposition to hosting successive games on the same continent.

   Rome and Madrid have officially declared bids for 2020 and Istanbul is expected to do so as well.

   The IOC will select the 2020 host city in 2013.

   Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964 and the Winter games in  Sapporo in 1972 and in Nagano in 1998.

   Rogge said he was confident Tokyo would make a strong bid.

   “Japan belongs to the small elite group of five nations only who  have organized three splendid Olympic games,” said Rogge.

   The JOC has said if Tokyo wins the right to host the 2020 games,  regions affected by the earthquake, tsunami and the ensuing nuclear  crises, could host some events such as football.

   Tokyo emerged as the sole bidding city for Japan after Hiroshima  and Nagasaki — the two Japanese cities hit by atomic bombs in World  War II -had expressed interest in a joint Olympic bid, but Hiroshima pulled out recently saying it still had outstanding debts  from hosting the 1994 Asian Games.

   Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, who was the driving force behind the 2016 bid, said his government would provide full support.

   “There is no point in bidding if you don’t win,” said Ishihara.

“The Tokyo metropolitan government will give blood, sweat and tears  to provide money and facilities.” 

  Several major international sporting events in Japan were canceled because of a nuclear crisis triggered by the earthquake and tsunami, but the JOC vowed that would not influence a potential  Olympic bid.