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Tokyo 2020 Bid Is “Very Healthy”

Less than three weeks before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) votes for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games host city, Tokyo 2020 chief executive officer Masato Mizuno told AFP, “we’re very healthy”.

He said, “Tokyo is a safe pair of hands and that includes financial strength. We already have a $4.5 billion Olympic hosting fund so financially there’s no problem – we’re secure. We also have city and government guarantees. There is no worry”.

He added, “the $4.5 billion budget included the main stadium. The main stadium has since become the national stadium funded (separately) by the government so we have even more reserves. You can rely on us to deliver. We have the $4.5 billion, plus we have revenue from the IOC, revenue from ticketing and also marketing revenue (which) will make, I would say, $8.5 billion, which is the total budget”.

Mizuno said, “it’s in the bank. We can draw it out immediately”.

Mizuno reportedly played down concerns over potential radiation exposure following the meltdown in early 2011 at the Fukushima nuclear plant 150 miles north of Tokyo. Wednesday a radioactive water leak at Fukushima was upgraded to a level three “serious incident”, the highest warning in two years.

Mizuno addressed the issue Tuesday before the leak’s re-evaluation saying “regarding the radiation levels, air and water levels are very low and very safe so we’re confident (it won’t be a factor in the vote.)

“Plus, there’s the distance. Also we actually monitor 80 points in Tokyo every day and all the levels are very low. There is no problem, no issue.”

He also expressed confidence that Tokyo, host of Asia’s first Olympics in 1964, could depend on backing from the IOC’s Asian members despite Japan’s political tensions with South Korea and China.

He said, “sport is not the same as politics. For sport there are common rules for competing with each other”, adding that Tokyo would adopt an “absolute zero tolerance” policy on doping at the 2020 Games.

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