Tokyo 2020 unveils logo, pledges better bid

Ken Marantz / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter
With a sparkling new logo to symbolize its efforts, the Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee stands ready to bring the Olympic Games back to the nation's capital.
That's because it will not stand pat on the bid for 2016, even though it was regarded as technically strong.
"We have to make many improvements," bid committee CEO Masato Mizuno said Wednesday at the unveiling of the logo in Tokyo. "We have to polish all places."
Tokyo, which host the 1964 Olympics but lost out to Rio de Janeiro for 2016, has joined the field for 2020 with Madrid, Rome, Istanbul, Doha and Baku. The group will be narrowed down to "Candidate Cities" on May 23, 2012. The host city will be selected at the IOC Congress in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7, 2013.
Tokyo's 2016 bid was hindered by the sentimental value attached to having the Games go to South America for the first time. Mizuno said Tokyo cleared one hurdle when South Africa, now the only continent to not serve as host, opted not to field a candidate city this time.
"The strongest message of the last bidding was the first Olympics in South American region," Mizuno said. "We were really afraid of South Africa."
Mizuno pointed out five areas that the bid committee will focus on--public support, the plan, the evaluation commission visit, the presentation to the IOC and the committee's lobbying efforts.
Low public support was cited in undermining the 2016 bid. Mizuno said that initial figures put current support at 62 percent, but that a minimum of 65 percent must be achieved to have any chance.
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