POSTED: Friday October 2nd 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tokyo congratulates fellow Bid cities in 2016 race

IOC elects Rio de Janeiro as 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Host City.

Copenhagen, 2 October 2009 – Tokyo 2016 today congratulated the Bid Committee of Rio de Janeiro after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose the Brazilian city to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games for the first time in South America.

Tokyo passed through the first round of voting before being eliminated in the second round.

Governor Ishihara, said:

“I would like to wish Rio de Janeiro every success for the 2016 Games and congratulate the bid team after running a fine campaign. I also wish to commiserate with Chicago and Madrid. Each city’s bid was exceptional, but I believe that Rio will stage an excellent Games.

“It is a day of mixed feelings for us as Japan has missed out on this particular Olympic and Paralympic dream.It has been an extraordinary two-year journey for Tokyo 2016, and the city will benefit greatly from the process. I believe we did Japan proud and I thank more than 100 million supporters in our country who helped us strive for gold.”

Dr. Ichiro Kono, Chair and CEO of Tokyo 2016 commented:

“Through this candidature process, we are proud to have successfully engaged  youth in Japan with sport, healthy living and the Olympic Movement through a variety of unique educational and sporting programmes. We have also been honoured with the huge and unswerving support of elite athletes from Japan and beyond, whom we thank again today.

“Our participation in the bidding race has also inspired all sections of Japanese society, from  the sporting and business communities, to government and even more importantly, the Japanese people, who have demonstrated to the entire world our nation’s passion for sport and the Olympic values of friendship, excellence and respect.

“I am proud that we have instilled a level of national pride never seen before, with more than 100 million Japanese people in favour of Tokyo 2016.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with the Bid, including Japan’s current and former Prime Ministers; the Governor of Tokyo; the President of the Japanese Olympic Committee; all of our devoted ambassadors and athlete supporters, and all who have been part of this incredible two-year journey.”

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Keywords · Tokyo 2016 · olympic bids · Ichiro Kono · IOC

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