The International Olympic Committee (IOC) members, sitting in Buenos Aires, on Saturday, awarded the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games to Tokyo ahead of Istanbul and Madrid, at its 125 session.
The capital City of Japan won a final round of voting by beating Istanbul by 60 votes to 36. Madrid had earlier been eliminated in the first-round ballot.
The news was met with jubilant scenes in Japan, while the Tokyo delegation at the venue jumped to their feet in celebration, waving the Japanese nation’s flag.
“I would like to thank everyone in the Olympic Movement and we will host a wonderful Olympic Games,” an elated Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, said after the announcement.
Tokyo will be hosting the event for the first time since 1964 and, also following two years of lobbying.
They also becomes the first Asian City to host the Games twice after winning the hosting bid in 1940 but failed to commence due to the Second World War.
The success of Tokyo’s bid followed a personal address from the Japanese Prime Minister during the presentation stage, with a campaign message: “The Olympics will be safe in our hands,” as a medium of allaying fears over the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant 150 miles (240km) from the city.
According to the Prime Minister’s message, sponsorship for the 2020 Games will reach a record level and 10 new permanent sports venues would be constructed, including the Olympic Stadium, which will be finished by 2019.
Istanbul’s bid was hampered by the conflict in neighbouring Syria and serious political unrest in the country, a series of doping scandals among the country’s athletes and the jailing of political opponents and journalists.
The ongoing worries about the economy in the Spanish capital and the recent Operation Puerto doping scandal undermined their bid.
