General

Passing the 2016 Olympic Torch: Tokyo

Oct 1, 2009, 4:00 PM UTC

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â†µThe host city of the 2016 Olympic Games will be announced on Friday, Oct. 2. In an effort to prepare you for the big day in Copenhagen, we’ll take a look at each city this week, leading up to Friday’s announcement.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe school of thought in this country is that the 2016 Olympic bid is Chicago’s to lose. Do you really think the Obamas would be part of the bid if they thought the United States might lose? However, if you look at the bid from a financial perspective, no city is more equipped to host an Olympics than Tokyo.â†µ

â†µâ†µTokyo has the largest metropolitan budget of any city in the world. If Tokyo were its own city, it would have the 15th highest GDP in the world. Make no mistake, Tokyo is not Beijing. Tokyo can actually afford to host an Olympics.â†µ

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â†µâ†µBIGGEST ENDORSERS:Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has signed on to the Copenhagen delegation to present Tokyo to the IOC. Said Dr. Ichiro Kono, chair and CEO of the Tokyo bid: “He brings with him the support of more than 100 million passionate sports fans in our nation and total guarantees for the IOC, which we know are extremely important in these difficult times globally.” So 100-million can be one pretty big endorser.â†µ

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â†µOBSCURE ENDORSERS:The Tokyo 2016 has a group they're calling the "Heroes' squad," consisting of many former gold medalists 21-time Olympic medalist in Paralympic Swimming Junichi Kawai. In addition, acclaimed fashion designer Masaki Matsushima has been appointed to create the uniform for Tokyo 2016 bid's final presentation. They are taking this thing very seriously.â†µ

â†µâ†µGREATEST CONTRIBUTION TO SPORTS:The lazy way to go would be to just name players from Japan. Ichiro would the start and end to the list. Problem is, Ichiro is from the complete other side of Japan. But, per Wiki, Sadaharu Oh is from Tokyo. The man had 868 home runs for the Yomiuri Giants, in Tokyo. That’s pretty awesome.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd one more contribution. Remember that episode of the Simpsons where Homers is watching the Olympics and the Japanese gymnast lands and snaps his leg in half? Well, that actually happened. Check this out:â†µ

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â†µâ†µFOOD THEY’LL WRITE HOME ABOUT:Seriously, does anything beat a constant stream of sake? And think of the TV lead up to the Olympic torch lighting…24-hours of Iron Chef. Allez cuisine! Oh, and more specifically, in November 2007, Michelin released their guide for fine dining in Tokyo, garnering 191 stars in total – about twice as many as its nearest competitor, Paris.â†µ

â†µâ†µUNVERIFIED FACT LEARNED FROM WIKIPEDIA THAT WILL IN NO WAY HELP THE CITY’S HOPES FOR A BID:Tokyo was hit by powerful earthquakes in 1703, 1782, 1812, 1855 and 1923.[29][30] The 1923 earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 8.3, killed 142,000 people.â†µ

â†µâ†µMURDER RATE:The murder rate in Japan is one of the lowest in the entire world, with fewer than one in every 200,000 people being slain. And if that’s not enough, check out this testimonial on malasia.answers.yahoo.com, clearly the place we should all go for safety concerns in other countries.â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥My wallet fell out of the back pocket of my jeans on a road near the Ginza in Tokyo.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Three hours later I was in my hotel and the reception called. “Mr B”, they said. “Sagisawa-San is in reception with your wallet. he found it on the sidewalk and checked to find your hotel key inside. He has brought it to the hotel. Sayonara.â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µPOTENTIAL LOGO:

â†µâ†µTHE DOWNSIDE:The last Summer Games was in China. The 1998 Winter Olympics was in Nagano. The 1988 Summer Olympics was in Seoul, South Korea. Asia has had enough Olympics. In that time there have been exactly zero Olympics in South America. And they don’t have Pele (or Obama for that matter) either.â†µ

â†µâ†µBOTTOM LINE:Tokyo is pitching their games as the most compact games in history. “Ninety-seven percent of venues are within an 8-kilometre radius of the stadium and the athletes village. Seventy percent of athletes are less than 10 minutes from their venues.”â†µ

â†µâ†µTokyo is also trying to remain understated, promising to deliver ’an unprecedented global legacy for humankind.’ Yeah, that’s not overselling anything. â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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