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MUMBAI:
The Tokyo 2016 Olympic Games Bid Committee has initiated its
very busy national promotional campaign for 2008 by sponsoring
an Olympian's swim in the freezing waters of Tokyo Bay as
part of the famous annual mid-winter swim in the Pacific Ocean.
Over
40 athletes from Japan’s national wrestling team, including
Olympians and Olympic medalists, gathered in front of hundreds
of national media and dived into the sea to demonstrate their
challenging spirit and strong will for success in the 2008
Beijing Olympic Games.
Tokyo
2016 Olympic Games Bid Committee CEO and chairman Dr Ichiro
Kono said, "This is the perfect beginning for Tokyo 2016,
starting the year with a significant event, supporting Japanese
Olympic athletes who are preparing for the forthcoming Games
in Beijing.
"We
feel that our bid must show the same challenging spirit if
we are to win our race to host the Olympic and Paralympic
Games in Tokyo in 2016. We are also using this opportunity
to describe how the bid activity itself is heralding the arrival
of a new sporting, social, economic and environmental golden
era for the benefit of Tokyo, Japan and the whole Olympic
Movement."
The
event, sponsored by Tokyo 2016 and hosted by Japan Wrestling
Federation is part of a five-day New Year's training session
for the Japan national wrestling team, held every Olympic
year. It took place for the first time at Odaiba, the proposed
venue for triathlon in Tokyo’s plans for the 2016 Olympics.
After the mental training in the frigid water, the athletes
moved on to a hot spring spa at the peaceful and sophisticated
Odaiba bay area.
Tokyo 2016 is currently putting the finishing touches to its
IOC questionnaire for submission to the International Olympic
Committee by 14 January 2008. The IOC will announce which
bid cities achieve the honour of being shortlisted as 2016
Candidate Cities in June 2008 and vote to appoint the Host
City for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games at the IOC
Session in Copenhagen in October 2009.
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