DALIAN, CHINA ¨C For Yuki Ota, who won Olympic silver for fencing in Beijing in 2008 and again in London in 2012, Tokyo¡¯s winning bid for the 2020 Summer Games and Paralympics was like receiving his first gold medal.
¡°I wanted to win (the vote) no matter what. I¡¯ve never won the final match in the Olympics. . . . I really wanted to get the gold medal,¡± Ota said in a recent interview with The Japan Times. ¡°Because I could finally get the gold medal in such a great way, I am grateful to all the people who supported this bid.¡±
Ota was one of the seven Japanese representatives who delivered Tokyo¡¯s final presentation Sept. 7 to the International Olympic Committee.
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