Tokyo 2016 celebrated the success of its 2008 Olympic and Paralympic heroes at an official awards ceremony hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Shintaro Ishihara, Governor of Tokyo and President of Tokyo 2016, congratulated the 12 Olympic medallists on their inspirational Olympic and Paralympic performances. The city’s six gold medallists were also given the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s prestigious Honour Award.
The medallists were “extremely passionate about supporting the bid and spoke openly (about) their passion for sport, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and especially of their support for Tokyo 2016” said a press release.
Dr. Ichiro Kono, Chairman and CEO of Tokyo 2016 said, “the talent and dedication of Japan’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes thrilled the entire nation this summer, and they are role models who can inspire generations of Japanese sports enthusiasts. Japan is a long-established Olympic participant, and our country’s success in the Beijing 2008 Games reflects a continued passion for Olympism, which we hope, will culminate in Tokyo hosting the Games in 2016. This would herald an unprecedented urban and environmental transformation in Tokyo, and a golden era for sport benefiting the Olympic movement and all levels of Japanese society”.
Meanwhile metropolitan government officials have launched a new fitness campaign called “Tokyo Exercise” to promote Tokyo’s 2016 bid reports, The Asahi Shimbun.
There are two versions of the exercise – active and sitting. Active lasts three minutes and 30 seconds, has dance style moves and is aimed at youth. Sitting is two minutes and 20 seconds and features mostly seated stretching.
Both versions include body formations that spell out the letters T, O, K, Y and O.
A Tokyo metropolitan government official said, “we want the active version to be used as a warm-up, and the sitting version to be used for easing stiff shoulders and backache”.
