For Tokyo, forecasting the election results of the International Olympic Committee's general session was always part of the Game Plan to win the 2020 Summer Olympics, and the Japanese capital did that -- nearly down to the final vote.

Tokyo, having learned the lessons from its failed bid for the 2016 Games, used a strategic lobbying campaign focusing on an administration change being orchestrated by Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, the influential Kuwaiti sheikh who has thrown his weight behind German IOC vice-president Thomas Bach to succeed IOC President Jacques Rogge in Tuesday's vote.

The sheikh, who is president of the Olympic Council of Asia and is widely known in IOC circles as the "Kingmaker," weaves an intricate web. "The election for the new IOC president and the host city are a complete set," a Tokyo bid consultant, who requested anonymity, told Kyodo News.