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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 11:57 p.m., Friday, May 1, 2009

Olympics: Survey shows support for Tokyo's 2016 bid dips

Associated Press

TOKYO — An International Olympic Committee survey showed a small dip in support for Tokyo's bid to host the 2016 Olympics, putting the support rate at 56 percent of respondents.

The IOC reported the outcome of the February survey to Tokyo governor and bid committee president Shintaro Ishihara during its April 16-19 inspection tour, Tokyo bid officials said Saturday.

The rate was down marginally from the 59 percent of respondents that supported the Tokyo bid last June, when the IOC cut the number of candidate cities from seven to four. That was the lowest rate of any of those four cities, which includes Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.

The Tokyo bid committee's own survey in January found 70.2 percent of respondents nationwide support the bid, and 68.6 percent of respondents in Tokyo.

The IOC will announce its choice for the host city on Oct. 2.