Tokyo to Pitch Sports Heritage, Financial Clout in Olympic Bid
29/08/2007 |
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Tokyo's bid to stage the 2016 Olympic Games will draw on the city's international profile, financial clout and experience of hosting sports tournaments, the head of the bid committee said.
The Japanese capital, which hosted the Summer Games in 1964, is competing with candidates including Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Doha, Qatar, for the right to hold the biggest multisports event.
Winning spurs infrastructure development in host cities. Among its construction plans, Tokyo would build roads in the waterfront area and convert a domestic airport for international flights, said Ichiro Kono, chairman of the bid committee. He declined to discuss costs.
``There's already a 10-year plan to develop Tokyo and it's a very efficient plan from a financing point of view,'' Kono said in an interview in Osaka. ``If we can have the Olympic Games, it will add value to this plan.''
Tokyo's government may spend 294.3 billion yen ($2.5 billion) putting on the 2016 Games, according to documents issued last year on its Web site. Cities typically spend more on infrastructure than on running the 17-day event.
London's Olympic Development Authority has a 9.3 billion- pound ($18.6 billion) budget for the 2012 Games, while Beijing is spending more than $67 billion transforming the city for next year's Olympics.
Legacy
Tokyo will stress youth development in its bid, Kono said. London won the 2012 contest by emphasizing to International Olympic Committee members how the games would be used to boost participation in sports among children. The IOC will select the 2016 host in October 2009.
``Legacy is important to us,'' Kono, a sports physician, said. ``If we succeed, the younger generation will understand what sport is, what the Olympic movement is, and I'm sure will be inspired by the true value of sports.''
Some 1964 venues continue to be used by the city's 12 million residents, Kono said. All Olympic sites would be within 10 kilometers (6.2-mile) of Tokyo.
Japan also hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972 at Sapporo and in 1998 at Nagano.
(Source: Bloomberg.com)
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