The IOC’s 125th session – Tokyo 2020 it is!

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Saturday the IOC announced Tokyo as host city of the Olympic Games of the 32nd Olympiad. “Tokyo 2020” will be the second time that the Summer Games are held in Japan. The capital first hosted the Games back in 1964. It is the fourth time an Asian city will host the greatest spectacle on earth after Tokyo (1964), Seoul (1988) and Beijing (2008).

In the final rounds Tokyo’s bid beat both Madrid and Istanbul. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was touched and overwhelmed by the election. Earlier the Prime Minister assured the IOC that no concerns are necessary regarding radioactivity following the 2011 earthquake and subsequent destruction of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Wrestling is back

The election of Tokyo 2020 as host city is only one of several decisions taken during the 125th IOC session that takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Earlier today the IOC made wrestling part of Tokyo’s Olympic program, an interesting choice given that the IOC dropped the sport earlier this year. In the final voting round wrestling, which is an original Olympic sport, was chosen over baseball/softball and squash.

Succeeding Rogge

The final IOC decision will be made on Tuesday when the IOC members elect a new president to succeed current president Jacques Rogge. Rogge has been leader of the Olympic Movement for 12 years after being elected in 2001. Six contenders are in the race to become the IOC’s ninth president: Thomas Bach (Germany), Ng Ser Miang (Singapore), Wu Ching-Kuo (Taiwan), Denis Oswald (Switzerland), Richard Carrión (Puerto Rico) and Sergey Bubka (Ukraine).

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