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Posted at 4:07 a.m., Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Olympics: Tokyo bid gets full government backing

Associated Press

TOKYO — Japan's upper house passed a resolution Wednesday in support of Tokyo's bid to host the 2016 Olympics, giving the campaign the full backing of parliament.

Japan's lower house affirmed its support of the bid Tuesday.

"The backing of the upper and lower houses of parliament in Japan offers the Olympic and Paralympic Family the complete assurance of passionate support and full guarantees for Tokyo 2016," Tokyo 2016 chairman Ichiro Kono said Wednesday.

The IOC will select the host city by secret ballot Oct. 2 in Copenhagen.

Tokyo organizers say their bid offers the most compact games with 95 percent of the venues located less than five miles from the main stadium and 70 percent of the venues within 10 minutes of the Olympic Village.

Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro are also bidding to host the 2016 Olympics.

Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Olympics, says 23 of its proposed 34 venues already exist and that land has been secured for the 11 new facilities.