Tokyo, Fukuoka bid to host 2016 Games

TOKYO, June 30 (Reuters) The mayors of Tokyo and the southern city of Fukuoka submitted rival bids to host the 2016 Olympics to the Japan Olympic Committee today.

The committee will announce on August 30 which of the cities will be chosen to make Japan's official bid.

Tokyo, which hosted the Games in 1964, is billing its bid as ''compact'' while Fukuoka plans to organise the venues so that all athletes will be able to reach stadia in five minutes, national broadcaster NHK said of the proposals.

''I am confident that we will be able to stage a futuristic Olympics,'' Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara told reporters.

The International Olympic Committee will accept bids from 2008, with a final decision to be made in 2009.

Reuters DH GC1717