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Tokyo asked to bid for 2020 Games

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-06-24 16:25

TOKYO - Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) chief Tsunekazu Takeda has formally requested Tokyo to bid for the 2020 Olympics after the city failed to land the preceding event.

Tokyo, which lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the race for the 2016 Games, had no potential rivals to become Japan's bid city after Hiroshima ditched its ambitions for financial reasons.

Related readings:  Tokyo nearing a decision on 2020 bid  Hiroshima formally pulls plug on 2020 bid  Disaster driving Tokyo's 2020 bid plans

In a recent interview, a senior JOC official said the deadly earthquake and tsunami which struck northeast Japan on March 11 had "thrown bid preparations into a spin".

However, with the nuclear crisis, triggered by the massive tsunami wave, still raging 150 miles north of Tokyo, the JOC have decided that sufficient funds existed to launch a new bid.

"We want to show how sports can be the symbol of Japan's recovery from the disaster in northeast Japan," said Takeda on Thursday.

"I believe it will be possible to have northeast Japan stage Olympic soccer games nine years from now."

Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara added his support to a possible bid and how hosting the Games could benefit the nation. "I want you to win lots of medals," he said. "Otherwise you won't raise the spirits of the Japanese people. Let's walk arm in arm towards this goal."

Ishihara has spoken positively of bidding for 2020 since winning re-election in April, despite criticism for spending an estimated $175 million on Tokyo's failed 2016 bid.

Double Olympic women's wrestling gold medallist Saori Yoshida joined Takeda in handing over the official document requesting Tokyo throw its hat into the ring once more.

"I might have retired by 2020 but if Tokyo gets the Olympics, I'll come back for it," said the 28-year-old, who won gold in the 55kilo division at the 2004 and 2008 Games. "The Olympics would be a chance to give courage and energy to the Japanese people."

Hiroshima formally ended its flirtation with bidding for the Games earlier this month, citing debts still outstanding from the city's hosting of the 1994 Asian Games.

It had initially proposed a joint bid with Nagasaki but the latter pulled out because of economic difficulties.

With radiation spewing into the air and sea from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant and the Japanese government finally admitting that fuel rods had melted, sport has been plunged into chaos.

Several international sporting events have been switched overseas, although Japan got to keep this October's gymnastics world championships and the FIFA Club World Cup in December.