Tokyo was awarded the 2020 summer Olympic Games following a vote by the International Olympic Committee. The Japanese capital, which previously staged the world’s biggest sporting event in 1964, beat Istanbul, who were bidding for the fifth time and Madrid, who failed for the third successive time.
IOC President Jacques Rogge opened a sealed envelope following a second round of secret voting. Crowds of young supporters in matching ‘Istanbul 2020’ sweatshirts were nervously huddled in a cafe alongside the Rio de la Plata river to follow the vote. But it was cries of anguish from the Spanish, who had expected a better showing in their third consecutive bid.
“We didn’t expect the voting to turn out this way. We expected to reach the final vote,” Spanish Education Minister and Olympic bid team member Jose Ignacio Wert told reporters. “The tie with Istanbul was a surprise and once it had occurred we all felt the die was cast, because evidently for the other city (Tokyo), Madrid was logically a more dangerous rival,” suggesting there had been tactical voting to eliminate the Spanish.
