In a press release Dr. Ichiro Kono, Chair and CEO of Tokyo 2016, said of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Evaluation Commission’s report that Tokyo 2016 was “grateful” for the commission’s “diligent and professional work….in their evaluation of our comprehensive athlete-centred plan to set the stage for Olympic heroes”, and inspire world youth “to embrace sport, healthy living and the Olympic Movement”.
Kono called the “strong” evaluation of Tokyo’s bid shows the world why Tokyo 2016 would greatly benefit the Olympic Movement”.
He said, “we appreciate that they understand our fully ‘achievable budget’ which is based on the double insurance policy provided by the Tokyo and national governments. They clearly recognized that ‘the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has financially guaranteed the games and has established an Olympic Hosting Reserve Fund of USD 3.7 billion’.
“We have worked very hard to respond to IOC feedback since the EC’s visit to Tokyo in April. We are confident we already have a plan that will fully satisfy all challenges and demonstrate our ability to be their most reliable and dependable partner”.
Kono added, “we are encouraged by the report and will use this momentum to fuel our final dash to Copenhagen where the IOC will choose the 2016 Candidate City on 2 October”.
He said, “since the EC’s visit to Tokyo in April we have responded enthusiastically to their feedback and carefully incorporated their ideas. We strongly believe that our final winning plan meets all outstanding challenges and fully demonstrates our ability and desire to be the IOC’s most reliable and dependable partner”.
