Tokyo governor says he wants to host Olympics in 2020 after failing to win 2016 games

Associated Press

Last update: November 9, 2009 - 8:02 AM

TOKYO - Tokyo's governor says he wants to bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics — a month after Japan's capital lost out to Rio de Janeiro for the rights to host the 2016 games.

Gov. Shintaro Ishihara told a group of reporters Monday he wants to give it another try. Rio won the vote by IOC members last month, beating bids from Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago for the 2016 Olympics.

Tokyo metropolitan government officials said Ishihara was expressing a personal view, and that a decision for another bid would require approval by the city assembly.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki have also announced plans to jointly seek to bring the Olympics to Japan in 2020. Ishihara said Tokyo should co-host the event with Hiroshima if his city wins.

Under existing guidelines, the IOC only allows one city to host each Olympics. But Ishihara said teaming up with Hiroshima, the site of an atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, would be good for the cause of peace. He did not mention if the plan would include Nagasaki, which also was decimated by an atomic attack three days after Hiroshima.

Other cities that have expressed interest in the 2020 Olympics include Istanbul, Budapest and New Delhi.

A host city is expected to be named in 2013.

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