IOC drops Baku’s 2020 Olympics bid

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid made the first cut among bidders to host the 2020 Olympics, as the International Olympic Committee announced that Baku and Doha were dropped from the running.

The IOC will decide which city will host the 2020 Olympics in a final vote on September 7, 2013 in Buenos Aires. That gives the remaining hopefuls more than 15 months to make final impressions upon the IOC to boost their candidacy.

Tokyo 2020 bid chief Tsunekazu Takeda said Wednesday, May 23, that being on the short list would help boost the spirits of the Japanese people after last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami, which killed about 19,000 people.

Tokyo is the only one of the candidates to have hosted the event before, doing so in 1964, and many see Tokyo as the pacesetter because of its sound plan for hosting the games.

Istanbul's pitch has not fundamentally changed since last time, but the bid team ironed out deficiencies in the original proposals.

"This time, Istanbul is ready to deliver," Arat said in a statement.

Istanbul, however, is also bidding to host the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, and the IOC forbids hosting two major sports events in the same year.

Many believe that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former footballer, favors hosting the UEFA competition over the Olympics, but Arat insisted: "Our priority is the Olympics."

Baku had also failed to make the short list last time but had insisted it learned from past mistakes.The IOC, however, noted a lack of infrastructure and experience in hosting a major sporting event,