Istanbul, Madrid, Tokyo Hand in Bid Packages for 2020 Summer Olympic, Paralympic Games

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, January 7. A trio of cities handed in their final bid paperwork to the International Olympic Committee today in hopes of becoming the host of the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Istanbul, Turkey, Madrid, Spain and Tokyo, Japan are the three potential sites for the event. The handover is primarily a ceremonial affair that take place at the IOC headquarters.

Tokyo presented its bid first today, with Masato Mizuno, Homare Sawa and Takayuki Suzuki as its representatives. Suzuki is a Paralympic swimmer who won the gold medal in the SB3 50-meter back at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. Istanbul presented second, led by its mayor Kadir Topbas and Hasan Arat. Istanbul recently hosted the FINA World Short Course Championships, and is attempting its fifth bid for Olympic hosting duty. Madrid is bidding for the third straight time, and featured Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., Marisol Casado and Jose Perurena Lopez as part of its bid team. Samaranch is the son of the seventh president of the International Olympic Committee, who passed away in April 2010.

The IOC will do site visits of each contending city in March. The final decision will be made on Sept. 7 at the organization's 125th IOC Session being held in Buenos Aires.

Prior to cutting to the final three, Baku, Azerbaijan and Doha, Qatar were in the running for bid duties, but were cut in May 2012.

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