Tokyo Wins Bid for 2020 Olympics
Tokyo was selected Saturday to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, beating out Istanbul and Madrid in a major victory for a country still recovering from a nuclear plant meltdown.
Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Summer Games, was seen as the safest course for the International Olympic Committee, because of its experience organizing major events and its sense of economic security in a time of political and financial uncertainty across the globe. Japan has twice hosted the Winter Games, more recently in Nagano in 1998, and it co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with South Korea.
Japan offers a $4.5 billion guaranteed reserve fund, plenty of hotel rooms for visitors and a dependable transportation system. The selection of Tokyo, conducted in a secret ballot by about 100 I.O.C. members gathered here, was also seen as a chance to help a willing and sturdy Olympic partner recover from the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami.