Japan Set To Withdraw From 2020 Olympic Race, Claims Rome Bid Chief

The head of Rome’s bid for the 2020 Olympics has claimed that Tokyo is set to withdraw from the race to host the Games after the devastating recent earthquake in Japan.

Mario Pescante, who is also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president, told the Gr Parlamento radio station that he had been informed by the Japanese Ambassador in Rome that Tokyo would not be able to press ahead with its bid. With Hiroshima’s interest in staging the Games having cooled in recent months, Japan now looks unlikely to put forward a candidate city in the tender for the 2020 Olympics.

“The Japanese Ambassador, who was with me at the start of the Rome marathon (on Sunday), told me with that, with great regret, his country would not enter Tokyo,” said Pescante. “At this moment in time there is only a spirit of solidarity for Tokyo. If we had been beaten by Tokyo we might have even had reason to be relieved.”

Rome missed out to Athens in the 2004 Games tender while in the 2016 Olympic race, Tokyo came third, behind Madrid and the winning bid from Rio de Janeiro.

Madrid is almost certain to bid again in 2020 after having come close in 2012 and 2016, while Istanbul and Paris are also set to enter the running. Casablanca in Morocco has also been linked with a bid, but Pescante singled out the threat of South Africa as a key challenge to Italy’s hopes of hosting the Olympics.

“South Africa’s bid will happen, and the three cities in contention are Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg,” he added. “There will only be one bid, but there is great determination from South Africa.” National Olympic Committees have a deadline of September 1 this year to submit applicant cities for the 2020 Games, and the winning bid will be announced on September 7, 2013.

Source: sportbusiness.com