Tokyo residents elated after winning race to host 2020 Olympics

Published January 13, 2015

Tokyo residents were elated on Sunday after it was announced the Japanese capital had beaten out rivals Istanbul and Madrid in the race to host the 2020 Olympics.

Long considered a slight favorite, Tokyo beat out Istanbul in the final round of voting at the International Olympic Committee meeting in Buenos Aires. Madrid was eliminated in the first round.

Even though it was 5 a.m., a gathering of 1,200 dignitaries and Olympic athletes crammed into at a convention hall in downtown Tokyo to celebrate the news. Cheers of "Banzai" filled the hall when the announcement was made that Tokyo had won.

Tokyo had been on the defensive in the final days of the campaign amid mounting concerns about the leak of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

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