Tokyo to host 2020 Olympic summer games Tokyo has seen off challenges from Madrid and Istabul to secure the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, third from right, celebrates alongside Tokyo 2020 delegation members after IOC president Jacques Rogge announced the Japanese capital to be the winner of the bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. TOKYO has won the 2020 Olympic Games after convincing the International Olympic Committee it was the "safe pair of hands" to entrust the Games organisation. Tokyo Olympic leader Tsunekazu Takeda said: "there are 116 million Japanese people smiling right now." The Japanese city fended off Istanbul in the final round with an emphatic 60-36 vote. Tokyo last hosted the Olympics 56 years ago, although they also organised the 19972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo and the 1998 Winter Olympics in nearby Nagano. The decision followed weeks of anxiety for the Japanese bid as a number of leaks of highly radioactive water emerged at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant 220km north. Tokyo's win puts the Games in a great time zone for Australian TV viewers with a time difference of just one hour for east coast Australia and no difference in the west at that time of year. In Japan, athletes can expect clockwork-like organisation but will have to contend with the Japanese capital's searing and humid summer which peaks during July and August. Fans and athletes gathered at several of the venues used for the 1964 Games in Tokyo to await the result from Buenos Aires, which came around 5am. There were resounding cheers from the bleary eyed fans when the result was announced. It came after a deflating false start an hour earlier in when the IOC announced a run-off between Madrid and Istanbul, which many in Tokyo interpreted as defeat. The 2020 decision was particularly galling for Istanbul which thought it had won when the IOC president Jacques Rogge had announced the "winner" of a re-vote from the first round tie between the Turkish city and Madrid. Madrid was the first city to exit the voting. But the final decision to go with Tokyo was a clear message from the Olympic movement as it wrestles with construction delays in Rio for the 2016 Olympics and political anti-gay messages in Sochi 2014, that they wanted a stress-free Games. Tokyo, which has a $4.5m budget ready to spend on Olympic projects and redevelopment of the Tokyo Bay area, had shrugged off last minute concerns about Fukushima radiation leaks with emphatic guarantees. The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe fresh from the G20 meeting in St Petersburg, confronted the Fukushima radiation leak head on. Speaking in English Mr Abe said: "Some have worries about Fukushima. Let me assure you the situation is under control. It has never done, and will not do, any damage to Tokyo. Later, in Japanese he elaborated saying the leak was completely blocked and poses no health-related problems "until now, at present, in future." Certainly when Mr Rogge said the dramatic words " and the host of the 2020 Olympic Games is Tokyo" here n Buenos Aires nothing could stop the very un-Japanese reactions of flag waving wild excitement. Losing officials from rival cities Istanbul and Madrid were devastated that yet again their pitches had failed. Istanbul had stressed east-west religious peace with its prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan failing to convince the IOC to take the Games to a country where the population is predominantly muslim. The IOC had misgivings about his heavy-handed response to protestors in Taksim Square in June, and the seemingly uncontrolled drugs culture in Turkish sport following 30 positive drug tests recently. The neighbouring civil war atrocities occurring just over the Turkish border in Syria was also a significant factor even though the IOC likes to think it has a major influence on world affairs. Said Mr Erdogan: "At this time the world craves peace and I send a strong message of peace to the world from Istanbul," he said. I send that message in all languages and all religions. Economically challenged Madrid had pitched an austerity games and a celebrity "fun" message. It's the second time in recent elections that economic powerhouse Asia had won. Pyeonchang, South Korea, will host the 2018 winter Olympics.