Tokyo organizers unveiled details of their bid to host the 2016 Olympics on Friday, emphasizing a compact, sustainable and financially robust games.
Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro submitted their official bid books to the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, before the Thursday midnight deadline, setting the stage for the final eight months of their global campaign.
While organizers of both the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, and 2012 London Olympics are feeling the pinch of the global recession, Tokyo organizers say they can stage an Olympics that will not exceed proposed budgets.
"In these troubled economic times, the Olympic movement can be 100 percent assured that the Tokyo 2016 Games will be exactly as described in our bid files," Tokyo 2016 Chairman Ichiro Kono said Friday. "Most of our venues are in place, most of the games infrastructure is in place and the $4.4 billion maximum budget to complete these tasks is in the bank."
Both Vancouver and London have been forced to dip into contingency funds to cover shortfalls caused by the slowing economy and lack of private financing. London's overall budget has grown to $13.4 billion.
The IOC will select the host city by secret ballot on Oct. 2 in Copenhagen.
Tokyo organizers said their bid offers the most compact games, with 95 percent of venues located less than 8 km from the main stadium and 70 percent of venues within 10 minutes of the Olympic Village.