Ceremony marks 4 years to go before Tokyo hosts Olympics

Tokyo Olympic Games organizers and children pose by a display for a 2020 Tokyo Olympics countdown event at Haneda airport in Tokyo on July 24. (AP) Organizers held a ceremony on Sunday to mark four years to go before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics.

A group of Japanese school children helped put the finishing touches on a giant globe made out of 2,020 origami paper cranes in the ceremony held at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

Yoshinobu Miyake, who won a gold medal in weightlifting the last time Tokyo hosted the Summer Games in 1964, attended the ceremony.

Takashi Yamamoto, the vice governor of Tokyo, also attended. Former governor Yoichi Masuzoe resigned last month for allegedly using political funds for personal purposes.

The 2020 Olympics will take place between July 24 and Aug 9.

Tokyo defeated Istanbul 60-36 in the final round of the IOC voting for hosting rights.

Madrid was eliminated on the first ballot. (AP)