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Toronto Bid Officials Not Surprised
Toronto Olympic bid officials admitted Friday night that Beijing's sweeping win didn't surprise them.
Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games when it claimed a majority 56 votes in the second round of the ballot during the International Olympic Committee's 112th Session.
"We knew Beijing had a lot of strengths, it was theirs all along," Paul Henderson, head of the losing 1996 bid, told reporters.
"We were fighting an uphill battle. I think Beijing had to make a major mistake and they didn't."
Beijing received 44 votes in the first round, followed by Toronto (20), Istanbul (17), Paris (15) and Osaka (6).
After Osaka had been ousted, Beijing amassed 56 with Toronto collecting 22, Paris 18 and Istanbul nine.
John Bitove, chief of Toronto's 2008 bid, said: "I'm not completely surprised, when I saw their final presentation I got worried."
"They had a compelling argument, the world's biggest country should have the Games.
"Beijing established why having the Games was so important to them, their presentation today pushed all the right buttons. "
The International Amateur Athletic Federation said the decision would help China integrate into world sport.
IAAF president Lamine Diack said he was convinced Beijing would host a "magnificent Olympic Games."
The French delegates said they learned a lesson from finishing third behind Beijing and Toronto.
"We were beaten and we have to accept this defeat," said French IOC member Henry Serandour. "There can be no talk of exacting revenging or finding out who abandoned us.
"We will now see if there can be a new bid from France and learn the lessons of this experience.
"The (IOC) evaluation commission said we had a top quality bid. There's a discrepancy between the number of votes we got and the quality of our presentation."
Istanbul, who has now lost its third straight bid, vowed to fight on while Osaka mayor Takafumi Isomura said IOC's visit ban hampered their bid.
Members are not allowed to visit candidates because of a bribery scandal when Salt Lake City won the 2002 winter Games.
"The ban on overseas visits resulted in limited time to promote our bid," Isomura said.
"It was unexpected to finish last, but when Mayor Isomura gets back on Sunday we'll discuss the possibility of bidding for the Games again," Osaka's vice mayor Toshio Dozaki told reporters.
"Osaka is aiming to be an international city which can welcome visitors from all over the world. For that reason, we definitely want to get the Games eventually," he added.
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