Olympic Games 2016 Host City Candidate Tokyo

8.8.08 ....few things come to mind with this special date except for the opening ceremonies of the 29th Summer Olympic Games in Beijing China. The ceremony was impressive indeed and China put on one heck of a show tonight.

While we are just starting these games and already know that London will host the next Summer Olympics....the competition for the 31st Summer Olympic Games host city is already heating up and guess who is in the short list of potential hosts.....drum roll please...Tokyo, Japan

Already, all over Tokyo, you can see posters and banners, such as this one, touting the city as the deserving future host for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games. This poster is hanging along the front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building in Eastern Shinjuku.

Chicago, Madrid, and Rio de Janeiro are the other 3 candidates still in the running; however, Tokyo and Madrid are widely perceived as being the two leading candidates. The fact that Olympic Games have recently been held in Asia and Europe might give Rio the edge. Ultimately time will tell when on October 2, 2009, the 2016 Games host city will be announced.

Tokyo's logo for the 2016 Games is a musubi (むすび), a traditional, mystical knot which signifies times of blessing, and this blessing appears to make use of all of the Olympic colors.

Whatever the outcome, whichever city hosts the Olympics in 2016...here's to the spirit of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games starting tonight and the embodiment of the motto of the Olympic Games:

Citius, Altius, Fortius...... "Faster, Higher, Stronger"....

Let's try to strive for these goals in our own lives each and every day.

All the best....Mark