Tokyo was seen as the front-runner after finishing third in its bid for the 2016 Games, which was won by Rio de Janeiro. Tokyo campaigned with the message “The Olympics will be safe in our hands”.
This will be Tokyo’s second time to host the Olympics after previously hosting it in 1964. It also becomes the first Asian city to host the Olympics twice. Japan has also hosted the Winter Olympics on two occasions, 1972 in Sapporo and 1998 in Nagano.
Crowds in Tokyo erupted into wild cheers when the news was announced in the early hours of Sunday morning. The news was announced at 5:20 am local time with several broadcasters covering the event live.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed concerns about the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant during the presentation stage. Princess Takamado became the first member of the Japanese Royal Family to address the IOC, said “The Olympic bid has given young people in the area (Fukushima) something to dream for, the motivation to move forward with courage”.
Hopefully the games will inspire and motivate the nation to achieve great things and will be a further boost to tourism after the March 2011 disaster.
The Tokyo Olympic Games will run from July 24 to August 9 2020. You can follow the latest development on the Tokyo 2020 Official Website
Congrats Tokyo! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lina, Great news to wake-up to this morning! Will you be making the trip over for it?
DeleteKudos! I'd love to make the trip over to watch a few games and finally explore Japan
ReplyDeleteThanks Maria, I'm hoping to get tickets but they wont go on sale until 2019. Will certainly be a great time to be in Japan :)
DeleteSo .. World Cup Rugby 2019, then Olympics 2020. It's going to be busy! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be great times Ru, Looking forward to the Rugby World Cup as well. Hope to see a game at the Toyota Stadium in Aichi.
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