IOC president to nominate Japan's Takeda for membership+

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 25 Kyodo -
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said Friday he will put Tsunekazu Takeda up for candidacy as an IOC member next spring and expects the Japanese Olympic Committee President to be elected.
''My right is to make the proposal and I will make the proposal of Mr. Takeda because I trust him, because I believe he is a very good man and he will be a great asset within the IOC,'' Rogge told Kyodo News, adding that he expects Takeda to be elected at an IOC session to be held during the London Olympics.
Takeda was not among the candidates nominated for IOC membership at a board meeting in April.
With incumbent members Chiharu Igaya and Shunichiro Okano due to step down at the end of the year because of the mandatory retirement age of 80, Japan will be without representation at the IOC for the first time in 103 years.
Jigoro Kano became the first Japanese member in 1909.
Takeda on Saturday said he would be honored to become an IOC member.
''If it is officially decided, it would be an incredible honor,'' Takeda said. ''I feel a tremendous responsibility. We must keep working to further the Olympic movement, and also to make up for the period when there will not be a Japanese IOC member.''
Takeda would be the 13th IOC member from Japan. His father and grandson of the Meiji Emperor, Tsuneyoshi (1909-1992), was also an IOC member.
Asked why Takeda was not nominated in April, Rogge said it was hard to appoint a third member from the JOC when there are still 123 nations that do not even have one.
''To appoint an extra IOC member...is a bit difficult because you will give a third member to your country and 123 (nations) are saying we want an IOC member,'' he said, adding that the IOC will be without a Japanese member for only six months, and that Igaya and Okano will become honorary members after retiring.
Rogge also said Tokyo would be a formidable candidate if it decides to bid for the 2020 Summer Games, as Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has recently said it would.
''Tokyo was having a good bid last time...it did not win but the bid was very strong, so we considered that should there be (Tokyo's bid again), we believed it was going to be a very strong bid,'' he said.
Parts of the new Tokyo Olympics could be held in areas hit by the March 11 earthquake that devastated eastern Japan.
Rome has already declared it will run, while Madrid -- which lost the 2016 race like Tokyo -- is also expected to throw its hat into the ring. The application deadline is Sept. 1.
==Kyodo
2011-06-26 00:25:25