2020 Olympic Games: Tokyo Wins Bid Over Madrid, Istanbul [VIDEO] While Prime Minister Says Radiation Leak Won't Hurt Safety Seven Years From Now
2020 Olympic Games: Tokyo outbids Madrid and Istanbul for the right to host the summer Olympics in seven years.
The International Olympic Committee voted Saturday in Buenos Aires for the 2020 Games that provides a great economy-boost to a city and now Tokyo will get that chance to play the host-city.
Last time the Olympic Games were in Tokyo was in 1964. Sunday, the world found out that the city in Japan will host the gathering of the world's best in 2020.
"I am so happy, I am overjoyed," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters at the post-announcement press conference. "I would like to share this joy with the people back home. We've received so much support from the people of the IOC and I would also like to express my support to them. And to the people around the world.
There was a radiation leaking from the Fukushima nuclear plant that could have possibly hurt the city's chance to host the Olympics, but it ended up not costing the city its bid.
"A safe and secure Olympic Games will be staged by us -- I think that was another hope for their support. I would like to pledge that we will be discharging this responsibility."
Abe said Tokyo would try to stage a successful Games to thank the world for its support after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan, according to CNN.
"Sport has the power to unite people," he said. "We experienced that after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, when athletes came to our country and helped us. Japan needs the power of sport, we need hopes and dreams."
Abe said Tokyo's 1964 Olympics had left a strong impression on him as a child, according to CNN.
"I was only 10 years old but a lot of kids like me were fascinated. Like many children I dreamed of winning a medal. It was a celebration giving hopes and dreams," he said. "The joy (of winning the 2020 vote) was even greater than when I won my own election."