Tokyo 2016 Chief Blames Deal-making for Defeat; Samaranch on Madrid Loss

(ATR) Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara says behind-the-scenes political deals were responsible for the city’s failure to secure the 2016 Olympics.

Speaking at a press conference Sunday, he said: "Tokyo's presentation was far better than the others. But invisible dynamics were at play. It is a game that is very difficult to win."

Tokyo was eliminated in the second round of the IOC vote for the 2016 city in Copenhagen Friday. The Japanese capital’s elimination followed Chicago’s shock exit in the first round. Rio de Janeiro received 66 votes to Madrid’s 32 to win the right to stage the Games.

"There is so much political jostling going on behind the scenes," said Ishihara, who was the president of the Tokyo 2016 bid.

Ishihara said he was uncomfortable with the bid process, suggesting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made ambitious promises to African people, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy had pledged to back Rio if Brazil bought French-made fighter jets.

He also criticized U.S. President Barack Obama’s presentation at the IOC Session in support of Chicago. "Prime Minister [Yukio] Hatoyama’s speech was much better than Obama’s, whose speech seemed to be just for granted whereas Mr. Hatoyama’s speech had substance,” Ishihara said.

Ishihara insisted Japanese sports officials had to improve their lobbying of IOC members and called for the Japanese Olympic Committee to be strengthened.

The Tokyo governor claimed the city might bid again for the Olympics if that was the wish of its citizens.

Yasuhiro Nakamori, deputy director general of Tokyo 2016, told Around the Rings the bid team was “very disappointed" not to have won the 2016 Games but thoughts had moved on to a possible bid for 2020.

He said bid CEO Ichiro Kono was very shocked at Tokyo’s failure, “but he is very positive.”

“We are all thinking about the next bid. We need to analyze the bidding and voting process first,” Nakamori said.

Despite Tokyo’s failed bid, the Japan Football Association confirmed Monday there were no plans to withdraw from the race to stage the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Samaranch Says Advice Went Unheeded

IOC honorary president Juan Antonio Samaranch says Madrid did not listen to his advice to wait on a bid for the Olympics.

The Spanish capital was comprehensively defeated by Rio in the final round of voting by IOC members for the 2016 Games on Friday.

Samaranch suggested from the outset that the Madrid bid would struggle against a Rio de Janeiro bid using the emotional appeal of bringing the Games to South America for the first time. Madrid was also challenged to secure the Olympics for Europe again after London 2012 and Sochi 2014, he noted.

"I gave my opinion at the time but when the majority wanted to go for it in '16, all I could do was help as much as I could," Samaranch told German news agency DPA on Monday.

"What hurt Madrid the most was the repeat of the continent," Samaranch was quoted as saying. "Secondly, a lot of Europeans didn't vote for Madrid because they were already thinking about presenting in '20 or '24."

Meanwhile, bid CEO Mercedes Coghen criticized the IOC for awarding the Games to Rio. "Being objective, Madrid had the best technical project and the reports recognized that. But the members of the IOC decided to give the Games to Rio because it was somewhere new," she was quoted by the Spanish newspaper Marca.

She said the work on the Madrid 2016 bid was “magnificent and very solid”. Coghen gave no indication if Madrid would bid for a third consecutive Olympics, saying her team needed time to reflect on the 2016 campaign.

World Fencing Champs: Iranians leave, Russians win gold

Four Iranian fencers withdrew from the World Fencing Championships after refusing to face Israelis.

Last week Mohammad Hossein Ebrahimi withdrew from the foil weapon, Hamed Sedaghati and Seyyed Sadegh Abedi withdrew from epee and Hamid-Reza Taherkhani withdrew from the saber discipline.

Iranian athletes have not competed against Israel athletes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to the Tehran Times. Iran does not recognize Israel as a sovereign nation.

The nine-day championships in Antalya, Turkey are halfway done and conclude Thursday.

Russia notched upset wins on Sunday to take home gold medals in the women's foil and men's epee. In the women's foil finals, Russia's Aida Shanaeva outlasted South Korea's Jeon Hee Sook for a 12-11 overtime victory. In the men's epee finals, Russia's Anton Avdeev defeated 2008 Olympic gold medalist Matteo Tagliariol of Italy 15-14. On Saturday, two-time Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis defeated Ukrainian Olga Kharlan 15-6 in the sabre finals.

With reporting from Mark Bisson and Sam Steinberg

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