Tokyo 2020 Bid News

[Barth Emil]

Recent visit of Japanese Ministers to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo

8/27/2013 RTTNews

U.N. Secretary General urged Japan to have an introspection and face up history with the correct perspective to foster relations with its neighbors and ease tension in the region.

Recent visit of Japanese Ministers to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo and remarks defending the country's wartime transgressions irked the other Asian countries. Tokyo's ties with the other Asian cities turned sour by disputes over the islands.

The U.S. Congress leader referred to the comfort women issue. Many women from the other Asian countries were forced to work in military brothels to serve Japanese soldiers.

http://www.rttnews.com/2178714/un-chief-urges-japan-to-have-correct-perspective-of-history.aspx

[yucheroni14]

Presentation members of Tokyo 2020

(IOC Session 2013)

・Shinzo Abe (Prime Minister)

・Fumio Kishida (Minister of Foreign Affairs)

・Tsunekazu Takeda (JOC President, IOC Member)

・Naoki Inose (Govenor of Tokyo)

・Chiharu Igaya (IOC Honorary Member)

・Masato Mizuno (Tokyo 2020 CEO, JOC Vice President)

・Yuki Ota (Men's Fencing 2008 and 2012 Silver Medalist)

・Mami Sato (Paralympian Women's Athletics)

・Yuko Arakida (Tokyo 2020 Sports Director, 1976 Women's Valleyball Gold Medalist)

・Yukiko Arai (Tokyo 2020 International Director)

[yoshi]

They really want this, don't they.

[Sir Rols]

They should have put one of their Royals in the party.

[gotosy]

A look back at when Tokyo was awarded 1964 Olympics

Aug 25, 2013 (Menafn - Japan Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --It's been more than 50 years since Tokyo was awarded the 1964 Summer Olympics, and it was done before several landmark events that shaped the second half of the 20th century.

Consider the following:

-- The IOC's decision on May 26, 1959, occurred in Munich, West Germany. (East and West Germany reunited decades later, signaling the end of the Cold War.)

-- The decision came more than two years before construction of the Berlin Wall began.

-- The decision happened only a month and a half after slugger Sadaharu Oh made his Yomiuri Giants debut, and before he became a quintessential baseball star.

-- The decision was made five years before the Beatles took the United States by storm and revolutionized rock 'n' roll as a major cultural force on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

-- The decision was announced a little less than two months after the Dalai Lama was granted asylum in India.

Indeed, being awarded the Olympic Games in 1959 set in motion big changes for Tokyo and Japan, which were recovering from the devastation caused by World War II. (Five years later, Tokyo hosted the first Olympics on Asian soil.)

Looking back at the media coverage of the IOC decision, just two weeks before the final vote among candidates Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid for the 2020 Olympics takes place in Buenos Aires, provides a glimpse of what took place in the buildup to the '64 Olympics -- from media coverage to government policy to venue planning to economic and cultural impact.

It all began with a major proclamation in Japan on May 27, 1959. An eight-column banner headline in The Japan Times that day, a Wednesday, declared: "Tokyo Gets '64 Olympic Games."

"A wave of rejoicing swept the nation last night as news was flashed from Munich that Tokyo had been awarded the 1964 Olympic Games," the lead story in The Japan Times proclaimed.

"The fifth ring in the Olympic symbol has been completed. The Olympic Games had finally come to Asia.

"Radio and television stations broke off their regular programs to flash the happy tidings to the nation."

In that front-page story, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi was quoted as saying, "(This is) a great opportunity for the Japanese people to demonstrate their love of sports and their attitude of respect for sportsmanship to the world."

This was how The Japan Times, which cost Y12 at the time, chronicled the historic decision, which came after the 1964 Winter Games were handed to Innsbruck, Austria, in the May 27 late city edition:

"The result was announced by (Swiss IOC delegate Albert) Mayer's brother, Otto, chancellor of the IOC, who sent newsmen dashing off to telephones with a shout of 'Tokyo.' "

The vote took place at 11:50 a.m. in Munich (7:50 p.m. in Japan).

The story, filed by UPI, added: "The vote, originally scheduled for 5 p.m. (1 a.m. JST) took the Japanese delegation by surprise. None of the 20 members was near the congress building when it was taken.

"First to arrive, summoned by telephone from his hotel, was Japanese Olympic Committee president and chairman of the Japanese Amateur Athletic Association, Tsuneyoshi Takeda."

By secret ballot at the 55th IOC Session, Tokyo received 34 of 58 IOC members' votes on May 26, finishing ahead of Detroit (10), Vienna (nine) and Brussels (five).

The UPI correspondent wrote that Takeda said, "We were hoping to win, but not by that margin. We were not certain of victory because you can never consider yourself elected before the votes are counted."

Tokyo Gov. Ryotaro Azuma captured the excitement shared by many Japanese when he spoke in Munich.

"As the governor of Tokyo, I am overwhelmed by joy which I am sure that nine million citizens of Tokyo share with me," The Japan Times reported.

"At the same time, however," he went on, "I feel quite a heavy responsibility to carry out the gigantic task of organizing the Tokyo Olympic Games most successfully. I am firmly determined to do my best to come up to the expectation of all participating nations."

In the same article, one of eight devoted to the Olympics on page one, Azuma said, "I am quite sure that the Tokyo Olympic Games will bring East and West more closely together and will contribute considerably to international friendship."

------

It was no big surprise that the Tokyo bid was the favorite for the 1964 Olympics. Just over a week before the voting took place in Munich, Otto Mayer, the IOC chancellor, told reporters in Rome that more than 50 percent of the IOC's 64 members had already decided to vote for Tokyo.

Mayer cited the fact that Tokyo, which was originally slated to host the 1940 Summer Games but didn't do so due to Japan's wars with China (1930s-40s) and World War II, has "tremendous facilities and inexhaustible organizing talent fully adequate for staging an Olympics."

Kazushige Hirasawa, then the editor of The Japan Times and a JOC member, was among Japan's delegates in Munich.

Before the voting was done, Hirasawa read a prepared statement: "Asia is ready to have the Olympic flame burn brightly and proudly on Asian soil for the first time in the long and distinguished history of the Games," this newspaper reported.

Interestingly enough, when Tokyo was awarded the 1964 Games it was not yet determined when the global sports extravaganza would take place. The Japanese Olympic Committee gave the IOC suggested dates for the summer and fall.

On May 1, 1961, The Japan Times focused on the issue in a series of small articles. In a nutshell, Dr. Kinichi Asano, vice president of the Japanese Amateur Athletic Federation, convinced the IAAF that June, the preferred month by many other nations to hold the Olympics, would be too humid in Tokyo.

"We had to argue our case against almost every Western country. . . . Western countries protested that this would not give their athletes time to reach their peak of training," Asano was quoted as saying from a London hotel.

Japan's request?

To hold the Olympics in October.

The IAAF, representing the largest number of athletes (track and field), approved that request. But the matter was then sent to the IOC.

Fast forward to late June. The IOC decided to have the Tokyo Olympics from Oct. 9 or 10 to Oct. 25, with a day of rest to follow the Opening Ceremony.

Equally significant, the IOC approved a 20-sport program for the 1964 Games, with judo and volleyball being added for the first time. The other 18: canoeing, modern pentathlon, track and field, rowing, basketball, boxing, cycling, fencing, soccer, gymnastics, weight-lifting, field hockey, wrestling, swimming (and diving), equestrian events, shooting, water polo and yachting.

------

Economics has always been a major aspect of the pros and cons of the modern Olympics.

Will it cost too much? Will it have a positive legacy for the host city and nation? Will taxpayers bear too great a burden?

Those are all questions that have been asked repeatedly over the years.

Well, a little more than two years after Tokyo was chosen to host the 1964 Summer Games, a six-paragraph story was buried near the bottom of page five in the Sunday edition of The Japan Times on June 18, 1961. "Tokyo Olympics Set to Be Most Costly Thus Far," the headline stated.

Speaking from Rome, IOC president Avery Brundage revealed that "Japanese organizers had boosted their budget from about 130 million to almost a half a billion dollars." That price tag, the AP noted, far exceeded the 30 million bill for the 1960 Rome Games.

Three years later, on Oct. 5, 1964, to be precise, Sports Illustrated penned this summary of the actual economic reality of this massive project: "The Japanese -- New Democratic Japan -- have spent 1.9 billion to dress up ugly old Tokyo for the tidal wave of Olympians and tourists that is coming or has already come. There are 26,753 cab drivers ready to solve the insanities of the Tokyo address system for English-speaking visitors -- house No. 14 might be next to house No. 13, but it also might be next to house No. 36. Twenty of the 26,753 cab drivers speak English. . . . In Tokyo, some 6,600 athletes will be housed at the Olympic Village, which cost more to build and renovate -- it was a U.S. military housing complex before -- than was spent on the first nine Olympics together."

Of the 6,600 athletes expected to compete in Tokyo, that number "will represent 99 nations, and most likely, every ideology, every religion, every philosophical concept known to disturb the mind of man," SI's John Underwood wrote.

------

Some things come full circle. Remember that the surname Takeda was synonymous with Tokyo's successful 1964 Olympic bid. Well, Tsuneyoshi Takeda's son, Tsunekazu, is the current president of the JOC, a position he has held since 2001. His great-grandfather was Emperor Meiji.

During Tsunekazu Takeda's time in charge, Tokyo fell short in its bid to host the 2016 Games, but the JOC remained committed to the task, along with government and public supporters to try again with a 2020 bid.

Weeks before the vote, Takeda summed up his thoughts on the Tokyo bid, which received positive reviews from the IOC's inspection tem visit in March and the IOC's 2020 Evaluation Committee report several weeks later.

"With such strong technical foundations, we know we can focus on the all important extras that will help to inspire millions of young people and help keep Olympism at the heart of our rapidly changing world," Takeda said.

Tsunekazu Takeda's words carry a strong message, and the 1964 Tokyo Games, 1972 Sapporo Winter Games and 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics all helped create positive images of Japanese culture for countries from around the world, especially important in the aftermath of World War II.

In this current era, Japan has excelled in a number of sports -- take baseball, for instance, where New York Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki collected his 4,000th career hit on Wednesday and Texas Rangers hurler Yu Darvish is MLB's current leader in strikeouts; or figure skating, where Mao Asada and Miki Ando have won women's world titles in the past decade and Shizuka Arakawa claimed the gold at the 2006 Turin Games; or women's soccer, where Japan grabbed the Women's World Cup crown in 2011; or Kei Nishikori's rise to the top 20 in men's tennis world rankings; or Kohei Uchimura's gymnastics exploits, including three straight world championship all-around titles and the 2012 London Games all-around gold. And the list goes on.

Those are contemporary accomplishments that also conjure up images of what Herbert Warren Wind chronicled in Sports Illustrated in the opening part of a two-part series on Japanese sports in February 1958, when the buildup to Tokyo's 1964 bid was gaining real momentum. He wrote, "What is truly astonishing is not the champions Japan has produced but the widespread participation in Western sports by people of all ages, the deep love of sport which nourishes all this activity. . . . It has long been the accepted thing to acknowledge in a marveling tone that the Japanese like baseball almost as much as we do. This statement is incorrect. The Japanese like baseball better than we do. No one ever gets enough of it."

Japan Times

http://www.menafn.com/8f9317b7-36a7-4ded-affb-296ec4223955/A-look-back-at-when-Tokyo-was-awarded-1964-Olympics?src=main

[baron-pierreIV]

They should have put one of their Royals in the party.

I think the Japanese royals are more the "to be seen rather than to be heard" -type. But the Crown Prince would've won a vote or two.

[Gangwon]

Getting all starry eyed over some glamour figure is the stupidest reason to vote for a bid. Presidents/royals shouldn't even have to come, there are other ways to guarantee support. They only come because the other bids have their president/royal there. It's become the new undergraduate bachelor's degree: unnecessarily necessary but not sufficient.

[baron-pierreIV]

Getting all starry eyed over some glamour figure is the stupidest reason to vote for a bid. Presidents/royals shouldn't even have to come, there are other ways to guarantee support. They only come because the other bids have their president/royal there. It's become the new undergraduate bachelor's degree: unnecessarily necessary but not sufficient.

Well, that's why you aren't on a bidding committee. The point is to WIN votes, isn't it?? Duh.

Edited August 27, 2013 by baron-pierreIV

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\ Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

[FYI]

Writing with a borrowed ipad on the street... please, somebody give me something to eat because here in Madrid, although we have an above the average per capita income and the city is home of some of Europe's largest multinationals, we are poor.

It was seen at the latest FINA world championships how poor we are and how the financial crisis, a crisis that only affects Spain and not the rest of Europe or other parts of the world. Oh, wait, other countries spent much more money rescuing their banks than we did... like for example, the UK who just organized the Olympics and some of the UK banks had to be bought by a Spanish bank called Santander.

Seriously, if you think Spain is "poor" you should come here and see it for yourself. It´s funny how some of you post here like if you were geopolitics/economic experts and it is obvious you lack a lot of knowledge.

Anyway, I think that Istanbul is again the front runner. In my opinion, Tokyo's nuclear issue is too big and Istanbul seems quiet for the moment, so that´s good for them. About Madrid, let´s see what happens... in the meantime I´ll keep begging for money. Im so hungry!

Seriously, take your facetious, jingoistic blinders off & see reality. Good for you that you're well off & not begging on the street. But many of your, & young, compatriots wouldn't agree with you. Do you honestly think I'm making all this stuff up or something. Get real.

Time to post ala paul's end of the world Tokyo-style!

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/25/20022234-our-generation-is-a-lost-cause-spains-youth-struggle-to-chart-a-life-amid-economic-crisis

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/10255610/Euskaltel-Euskadi-to-fold-as-Spains-financial-crisis-ends-Basque-teams-19-year-association-with-top-flight-cycling.html

http://www.voxxi.com/javier-bardem-spains-economic-crisis/

http://news.yahoo.com/spains-financial-crisis-gobbling-top-eateries-062245028.html

http://phys.org/news/2013-06-financial-crisis-cripples-spain-medical.html

http://www.dw.de/unemployed-youth-turn-their-backs-on-spain/a-16703572

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/03/17/spains_youth_fleeing_country_in_search_of_work.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100024242/the-great-spanish-nation-can-end-its-crucifixion-at-will-by-leaving-emu/

See, paul. It's not just Tokyo that we can dig up dirt on. Yet in spite of all their turmoil, Spanish government thinks that the Olympics should be their top priority.

[Athensfan]

Getting all starry eyed over some glamour figure is the stupidest reason to vote for a bid. Presidents/royals shouldn't even have to come, there are other ways to guarantee support. They only come because the other bids have their president/royal there. It's become the new undergraduate bachelor's degree: unnecessarily necessary but not sufficient.

YES! I would love to see the IOC ban heads of state from the final IOC sessions. It's too much of a circus. It only distracts from the issue at hand.

The only reason to allow heads of state to continue to attend is that the IOC likes having their egos stroked.

[deloxley]

Seriously, take your facetious, jingoistic blinders off & see reality. Good for you that you're well off & not begging on the street. But many of your, & young, compatriots wouldn't agree with you. Do you honestly think I'm making all this stuff up or something. Get real.

Time to post ala paul's end of the world Tokyo-style!

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/25/20022234-our-generation-is-a-lost-cause-spains-youth-struggle-to-chart-a-life-amid-economic-crisis

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/10255610/Euskaltel-Euskadi-to-fold-as-Spains-financial-crisis-ends-Basque-teams-19-year-association-with-top-flight-cycling.html

http://www.voxxi.com/javier-bardem-spains-economic-crisis/

http://news.yahoo.com/spains-financial-crisis-gobbling-top-eateries-062245028.html

http://phys.org/news/2013-06-financial-crisis-cripples-spain-medical.html

http://www.dw.de/unemployed-youth-turn-their-backs-on-spain/a-16703572

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/03/17/spains_youth_fleeing_country_in_search_of_work.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100024242/the-great-spanish-nation-can-end-its-crucifixion-at-will-by-leaving-emu/

See, paul. It's not just Tokyo that we can dig up dirt on. Yet in spite of all their turmoil, Spanish government thinks that the Olympics should be their top priority.

Wow, what a research.

So because some top restaurants are closing, a cycling team cant find a sponsor and Javier Bardem is shocked about the Spanish crisis, we shouldnt have the Olympics.

Let me tell you that yes, unemployment is incredibly high, specially for young people. It is in the European Union as well, not as high, but it is a big problem for many other countries as well. That´s why the European Union has developed a special program to attack this issue. What you didnt mention is that unemployment has been declining in Spain for 5 straight months now, that our exports are rising above any developed country and getting even a surplus, that our current account balance will have a 2% surplus this year which is something amazing and that next quarter the recession will be over.

You know, it is terrible for a country to be in a economic crisis and this crisis is not only a problem of Spain.

Should we talk about Detroit and how something like what happened there is even possible in the richest country in the world? That´s something that is beyond anything you can imagine in Spain.

The concept of a country being "rich" or "poor" or even "developing" is much more than a temporary unemployment figure. You know, Turkey can grow at 5% or even at 10% if they want, but they are ages away from the level of development of Spain. That´s why their budget for infrastructure is something incredible, because they have to build things that are so basic that Tokyo or Madrid already have them.

But anyway, keep throwing your hate to Madrid. We might get the Olympics or we might not, what I wont ever do is pick a city like you do with Madrid and hate it so much. You know, life wont change in Madrid if we are not awarded the Olympics, thanks god there are many things much more important in this country. But if we do get the Olympics, please be near a hospital in case you have a heart attack.

[yoshi]

To all bid cities: remember 09. Remember when Chicago lost. Remember when Chicago lost partly because of Barack Obama, President of the United States, arguably the most important single man in the Western world, getting totally upstaged by an unknown, unheralded 15-year-old girl from Tokyo. Powerful people don't win votes alone.

[Gangwon]

You know, life wont change in Madrid if we are not awarded the Olympics, thanks god there are many things much more important in this country.

I like that attitude.

[FYI]

Should we talk about Detroit and how something like what happened there is even possible in the richest country in the world? That´s something that is beyond anything you can imagine in Spain.

Is Detroit bidding for the Olympics? No, they're not.

But anyway, keep throwing your hate to Madrid. We might get the Olympics or we might not, what I wont ever do is pick a city like you do with Madrid and hate it so much. You know, life wont change in Madrid if we are not awarded the Olympics, thanks god there are many things much more important in this country. But if we do get the Olympics, please be near a hospital in case you have a heart attack.

If life won't change in Madrid if you don't get the Olympics, then what's this incessant quest to get them? It seems like it is indeed very important to Spain. And for the millionth time, I don't "hate" Madrid (& I'm getting sick & tired of the absurd accusation by all the Spaniards here simply bcuz I don't buy their narrative) , & I won't lose any sleep if they're awarded the Games. At least I don't say that awarding the Games to Madrid would be a "low-point" in the Olympic movment, like runningrings does, or the sheer "hate" that paul does indeed have for Tokyo & Japan. And I think the only ones that will have a "heart attack" are you & your fellow Spainards if you don't win the Games. Otherwise, you wouldn't let your panties get all in a bind here over really nothing.

[Amarillo]

Is Detroit bidding for the Olympics? No, they're not.

If life won't change in Madrid if you don't get the Olympics, then what's this incessant quest to get them? It seems like it is indeed very important to Spain. And for the millionth time, I don't "hate" Madrid (& I'm getting sick & tired of the absurd accusation by all the Spaniards here simply bcuz I don't buy their narrative) , & I won't lose any sleep if they're awarded the Games. At least I don't say that awarding the Games to Madrid would be a "low-point" in the Olympic movment, like runningrings does, or the sheer "hate" that paul does indeed have for Tokyo & Japan. And I think the only ones that will have a "heart attack" are you & your fellow Spainards if you don't win the Games. Otherwise, you wouldn't let your panties get all in a bind here over really nothing.

Please read, think, and comment. He said 'life won't change in Madrid if we don't get the games', not 'life won't change in madrid if we get the games',

If we don't the 6 sept, will be like the 7 and 8. Madrid has 'cheerleaders' and haters, you don't hace to exucuse your self, is normal, and we won't have any ''heart attack' in Madrid, as we are going to win.

[Athensfan]

To all bid cities: remember 09. Remember when Chicago lost. Remember when Chicago lost partly because of Barack Obama, President of the United States, arguably the most important single man in the Western world, getting totally upstaged by an unknown, unheralded 15-year-old girl from Tokyo. Powerful people don't win votes alone.

That is the kookiest analysis of the 2016 vote I've seen.

[Sir Rols]

To all bid cities: remember 09. Remember when Chicago lost. Remember when Chicago lost partly because of Barack Obama, President of the United States, arguably the most important single man in the Western world, getting totally upstaged by an unknown, unheralded 15-year-old girl from Tokyo. Powerful people don't win votes alone.

I agree that Obama wasn't the clincher that Chicago hoped for four years ago, but i think that was as much a reaction by the IOC to criticism that they were swayed by Blair and Putin in their respective bid sessions. It was those star turns that really led to the widespread notion that the Head-of-State attending was essential to the final presentations.

[Jean Finel]

Tokyo Electric Power Company had reported inaccurately low dosages

28 August 2013 World Socialist Web Site

TEPCO reported inaccurately low dosages for 431 workers, while only 19 cases had to be revised upward. Of the 431 adjusted upward, 12 resulted in estimates that the worker suffered exposure in the range of 50 to 100 mSv. 6 others—3 employed by TEPCO, the other 3 by contractors—had suffered dosages greater than 100 mSv.

According to TEPCO’s figures, this increase means that a total of 173 workers suffered dosages above 100 mSv. However, this number includes only those whose thyroid glands were exposed to that level from radioactive iodine. When total body exposure is included, nearly 2,000 workers suffered radiation at levels above 100 mSv.

In March 2013, the French daily Liberation reported that 6 TEPCO workers received dosages higher than 250 mSv, with one as high as 678.8.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/08/28/fuku-a28.html

[yoshi]

What I'm trying to say, is that you can't win the games on one thing alone, be that VIPs, your public support, being a new frontier, being experienced, having the best venues, being the most famous, whatever. You have to be strong on all aspects to get enough votes to win.

[paul]

To all bid cities: remember 09. Remember when Chicago lost. Remember when Chicago lost partly because of Barack Obama, President of the United States, arguably the most important single man in the Western world, getting totally upstaged by an unknown, unheralded 15-year-old girl from Tokyo. Powerful people don't win votes alone.

I don't remember the 15 year old girl. I do remember how odd the Tokyo presenters were acting......smiles smiles smiles....very put on in their attempt to show passions.

As for Obama.....I think it was a negative for Chicago. Obama sucks all the air out of a room, if you worship him it feeds the cycle and he gets more pumped up.....if you don't (like most of the IOC members probably don't) then he puts out an arrogant vibe and I bet they felt it.

[baron-pierreIV]

Actually, if anyone remembers correctly, Obama was just the added attraction. The pitch opened with Michelle recalling her girlhood days in Chicago becuz she is the Chicago gal. Her husband who did NOT grow up in Chicago could not do a "As a kid growing up in Chicago..." bit. But he was the icing on the cake.

And if he was NOT included, then how would it ever be known how much impact he might have added? Plus, by him NOT showing up would've probably cost a few votes becuz then the voters would've felt insulted that the most important person in the country bidding couldn't make the time for them. especially if the heads of state of the other bidders were going to be there. It was right to have him come. But it was a contest that was not going to be decided by Lula's personality vs. the Japanese or Spanish prime ministers' vs. Obama's. There were bigger issues, and in the end, the IOC wanted to take their Games to a new continent. And Rio's bid was just sexier vs. the very sterile "lakefront" Chicago bid. What it came down to was Rio's bays and beaches were sexier than Lake Michigan's.

A sensible IOC'er would not cast his/her first vote based on an appeal from the US president and his wife. They had their first commitments and the US already had TWO summer games within living memory of ALL the voters present. Brazil had none. So it was Rio's time and not Chicago's. That's all there was to it...even if George Clooney were the US president at the time, it was still Rio's to lose.

Edited August 28, 2013 by baron-pierreIV

[Athensfan]

Actually, if anyone remembers correctly, Obama was just the added attraction. The pitch opened with Michelle recalling her girlhood days in Chicago becuz she is the Chicago gal. Her husband who did NOT grow up in Chicago could not do a "As a kid growing up in Chicago..." bit. But he was the icing on the cake.

And if he was NOT included, then how would it ever be known how much impact he might have added? Plus, by him NOT showing up would've probably cost a few votes becuz then the voters would've felt insulted that the most important person in the country bidding couldn't make the time for them. especially if the heads of state of the other bidders were going to be there. It was right to have him come. But it was a contest that was not going to be decided by Lula's personality vs. the Japanese or Spanish prime ministers' vs. Obama's. There were bigger issues, and in the end, the IOC wanted to take their Games to a new continent. And Rio's bid was just sexier vs. the very sterile "lakefront" Chicago bid. What it came down to was Rio's bays and beaches were sexier than Lake Michigan's.

A sensible IOC'er would not cast his/her first vote based on an appeal from the US president and his wife. They had their first commitments and the US already had TWO summer games within living memory of ALL the voters present. Brazil had none. So it was Rio's time and not Chicago's. That's all there was to it...even if George Clooney were the US president at the time, it was still Rio's to lose.

I agree with all the above EXCEPT for the bit about the "very sterile lakefront Chicago bid."

Have you even been to Lake Michigan? Do you know what that area is like? It ain't "sterile", that's for sure.

But then again, anyone who describes San Diego as a tired old retirement community obviously doesn't know what end is up....

[FYI]

Wow, what a research.

So because some top restaurants are closing, a cycling team cant find a sponsor and Javier Bardem is shocked about the Spanish crisis, we shouldnt have the Olympics.

No, not just bcuz of that, since those are just casualties of the much bigger problem that you conveniently just glossed-over. What I find to be "wow", is that outta those eight articles, you conveniently chose the three that don't really underline the major problem. So since it seems that you didn't properly go through them, I'll repost the five that you simply just ignored:

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/25/20022234-our-generation-is-a-lost-cause-spains-youth-struggle-to-chart-a-life-amid-economic-crisis

http://www.dw.de/unemployed-youth-turn-their-backs-on-spain/a-16703572

http://phys.org/news/2013-06-financial-crisis-cripples-spain-medical.html

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/03/17/spains_youth_fleeing_country_in_search_of_work.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100024242/the-great-spanish-nation-can-end-its-crucifixion-at-will-by-leaving-emu/

The country's youth & educated leaving in droves in search of better opportunities elsewhere doesn't seem to be a message that would bode well, especially when part of London's 2012 message was to "inspire a generation". So what does that say when the youth in your country say things like "our generation is a lost cause". Taking their dreams & hopes with them to other countries where they look to fair better. Where at least one family member in every household there is unemployed. No one is 'making these things up'. And you're just deluding yourself if you think that they are.

Please read, think, and comment.

I see you're coming out from under your bridge again. How rich coming from you. Please practice what you preach.

What I'm trying to say, is that you can't win the games on one thing alone, be that VIPs, your public support, being a new frontier, being experienced, having the best venues, being the most famous, whatever. You have to be strong on all aspects to get enough votes to win.

You're not telling us anything new that most of us here don't already know. Everything you just mentioned is a given in every Olympic bid race.

[runningrings]

At the expense of seeming alarmist, I just thought this was worth posting.

You have to admit, this is a pretty frightening situation - it seems 2011 was only the start and it is now escalating.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-28/an-japan-fuku/4919724

While I do genuinely think that this should not impact the delivery of the 2020 Games - I do feel given the the absolute smashing the Istanbul bid got over the protests there over the past few months that this shows that NONE of these three candidates are - at all - without their baggage... and I propose that Tokyo's is probably bigger than its copping flack for.

My point is that with this alarming news that we're only at the beginning of a supposedly sustained, decade long nuclear incident in the country - much of which seems to be dominating world news this week - how much could that sway vital 'marginal' voters with the IOC?

Fairs fair. Turkey has right copped it for its own problems, but sucks for Japan that its major issue is a huge developing story at this point.

Additionally - the firm my step brother works for has operations just north of Tokyo - their offering foreign staff relocation packages to Osaka and even Hong Kong - citing the nuclear incident.