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Thursday, 4th April 2013
In General Japan News, Japan Sports News,
Carl Lewis supports Tokyo's Olympic bid
Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games has received arguably unexpected support from American multi-Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis.
The 51-year-old, who won ten Olympic medals during his illustrious career, showed his backing for the Japanese bid when he attended the National Stadium on Monday April 1st.
Speaking in an interview for Reuters, Lewis said that he had enjoyed "the best long jump of [his] career and the best 100 metres [at Japan's National Stadium]" and was able to take away three gold medals from the event.
He also said that the Japanese had been "the most supportive of [his] career outside of the US".
Lewis then suggested that Japan should "build on [its] integrity and build on [its] legacy". He implied that past successes mean the country should not have such a hard job persuading the authorities that they would make a good host nation.
"I don't think [Japan] has to recreate the wheel here," he said, referring to previous World Championships and Olympics hosted by the nation.
The country has been home to the Games three times, in 1964 the Summer Olympics were hosted in Tokyo and the Winter Olympics were hosted in 1972 in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, and in Nagano, Nagano Prefecture in 1998.
The nine-times gold medal-winning champion then went on to suggest that Japan's reputation as a tech-savvy nation should help it in it's bid to host the Games in 2020.
"Japan has always been a very high-tech community and I think it'd be a showcase for a stadium and would probably be more high-tech than any [previous venue]".
He concluded the interview by saying that he thinks Japan would be "a great place to be" in 2020.
The decision on the successful host nation will be made in September in Argentina by the International Olympic Committee.
The Japanese Olympic Committee organised a parade in August 2012 to honour the medal-winning athletes from last year's Games. The country succeeded in taking home a total of 71 medals, including seven golds.