The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) Thursday wants to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and break into the top three in the Olympic medals standings.
Japan ranked fifth with 16 gold medals and sixth with 37 medals at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games, achieving the JOC’s goal of roughly doubling the number of medals within 10 years.
JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda said, “the difference between the world’s top three and the rest is wide and we need to make tremendous efforts to catch up with them”, referring to the United States, China and Russia.
He added, “I believe bringing an Olympics to Japan will help achieve our new goal”.
In March after he was elected to his third two-year terms as President of the JOC Takeda said Japan would bid for the 2020 Games because although the earliest Japan could bid for would be the 2016 Olympics, “it is difficult for a candidate to succeed on its first try”. He said it would be more realistic to bid for 2020.
