Tokyo vows diplomacy to win Olympics
Friday, 6 June 2008
TOKYO, June 5 (AFP): Japanese leaders on Thursday vowed a diplomatic drive to win the 2016 Olympic Games after the capital was chosen as one of four candidate cities.
"We now stand just at the foot of the mountain to climb," said Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who has spearheaded the Olympic bid. The International Olympic Committee, meeting Wednesday in Athens, said it had narrowed the list to Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo for the right to host the 2016 Summer Games.
"A very complicated and opaque competition will now start. We must engage in active diplomatic efforts," Ishihara said. "It will truly be a national event." It would be Tokyo's second Summer Games.
The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were the first Games in Asia and a symbol of Japan's dramatic rebirth from the devastation of World War II.
"We now stand just at the foot of the mountain to climb," said Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who has spearheaded the Olympic bid. The International Olympic Committee, meeting Wednesday in Athens, said it had narrowed the list to Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo for the right to host the 2016 Summer Games.
"A very complicated and opaque competition will now start. We must engage in active diplomatic efforts," Ishihara said. "It will truly be a national event." It would be Tokyo's second Summer Games.
The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were the first Games in Asia and a symbol of Japan's dramatic rebirth from the devastation of World War II.