[Editor’s Note: The following article is our annual April Fools Day piece and Mr. Trump’s comments within it are fictional. See some of our past April 1 jokes following the article.]
United States Republican Presidential Nominee front runner Donald Trump wants to see the 2020 Olympic Games staged in America he said Thursday when asked about America’s soccer team failing to qualify for the Rio Games this summer and troubled preparations for the Olympics in Brazil.
“We aren’t winning at anything – we need to make America great again. When I’m elected President I’ll make sure the Olympics are hosted here in 2020 and we’ll show the world how it’s done.”
The 2020 Olympic Games were awarded to Tokyo in 2013 after the Japanese capital defeated rivals Istanbul and Madrid in an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote.
When reminded, Trump said “believe me, it will be in America – we haven’t hosted the summer Games since 1996 and we spend way too much on broadcast rights and sponsorships. The Olympics are laughing at us.”
“We lost with New York in 2012, we lost with Chicago in 2016, we have a real problem here.
“I’ll meet with the head of the Olympics [IOC President Thomas Bach] for five minutes and we’ll negotiate a solution. That’s how it’s done. With what we’re spending to support the Olympics, the 2020 Games will happen in America in 2020 and,” Trump paused, “Japan will pay for it.”
“And athletes from other nations will not be allowed to compete here.
“Look, China is beating us, the Russians are beating us and not playing fair with the doping – we have a problem here and until we figure out what’s going on we’re going to keep the other athletes out.
“And I promise you we’ll start to win. We’ll win gold after gold. We’ll win so much we’ll be sick of it. We’ll make America great again.”
Los Angeles is already in the midst of a bid for the 2024 Games as the U.S. nomination, competing with Budapest, Paris and Rome. But Trump dismisses it.
“We can’t wait that long. We’ve lost two bids – the last under the Obama administration from his own home town. He made a speech to the Olympic voters and they sent him home in last place. Can you believe it? A speech!”
“As President of the United States I would get all [IOC members] in a room to negotiate. That’s how we’ll win. That’s how we make America great again.
“I love the Olympics – and the Olympics love me. I carried the Olympic torch down 5th Avenue in 2004. I fired Olympians Shawn Johnson, Nadia Comaneci, Jennie Finch and many other outstanding athletes on ‘The Apprentice.’ They are all great people. And I’ll say this, I also fired Olympian Angela Ruggiero from the show, and now she is an [IOC] member. Do you think I can’t make a deal with them?”
“And I will self-fund the infrastructure without taking money from the banks, special interest groups, sponsors – or the IOC. We won’t have to answer to them, Americans would run the Olympics.”
Trump proposed using his luxury hotels across the country to accommodate the athletes and media, and preparing sport venues at his golf resorts, especially those located in Florida.
“Japan can pay for the Olympic Stadium,” he added.
When hearing that Japan’s President Shinzo Abe had rolled his eyes at the proposal, Trump tweeted “the track just got 10 feet longer.”
Trump has scheduled a Town Hall in Wausau, Wisconsin Saturday before that State’s primary is held on Tuesday. Polls show that Republican opponent Ted Cruz has a sizeable lead in the Badger State.
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