Tokyo boss blames ‘political jostling’ for 2016 loss

Tokyo: Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara blamed behind-the-scenes political deals for the city’s failure to win the vote to host the 2016 Olympics.

“Tokyo’s presentation was clearly the best,” Ishihara told reporters on Sunday. “But invisible dynamics were at play. It is a game that is very difficult to win.” Tokyo was eliminated in the second round of Friday’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote in Copenhagen won by Rio de Janeiro. “There is so much political jostling going on behind the scenes,” the 77-year-old Ishihara said after Rio beat Madrid in the final round of voting to take the Games to South America for the first time.Tokyo, quoted as 25-1 to win the IOC vote by some major bookmakers, were ousted after odds-on favourite Chicago’s shock first-round rejection.Japan’s capital, which staged Asia’s first Olympics in 1964, was considered an outsider after Beijing hosted the Summer Games last year. Japan hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972 and 1998. Ishihara would not be drawn on whether Tokyo would bid for the 2020 Olympics, saying: “We will have to take public opinion into account.” Bureau Report