Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid, the three cities bidding to host the 2020 Olympics, made presentations to and answered questions from members of the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday.
Tokyo is bidding to host the Games for the first time since 1964. The bid committee's six-member presentation team included Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose, London Olympics silver medal-winning fencer Yuki Ota and multilingual newscaster Christel Takigawa.
The presentation promised to maximize the power of sports to worldwide audiences, raise the profile of athletes and promote the Olympic movement.
Tsunekazu Takeda, an IOC member and president of Tokyo 2020 and the Japanese Olympic Committee, underlined Tokyo 2020's commitment to the Olympic movement: "Japan has been touched by the universal power of sport . . . and is committed to sharing that power with others."
Each bid city was allotted 45 minutes for their presentation and a 45-minute question and answer period afterward.
On Tokyo's bid, Inose said: "Every athlete and member of the Games Family will arrive on time . . . every time. No one will be stuck in a traffic jam when they should be competing, training or working."
The final decision on which city will host the 2020 Summer Games will be made at the IOC session in Buenos Aires in September.