Tokyo's Olympic bid chief vowed Tuesday to ensure safety if the city wins the 2020 Summer Games, as the sporting world reeled from twin blasts at the Boston Marathon. "First of all, Tokyo is one of the safest cities in the world," Masato Mizuno, chief executive officer of the city's Olympic bid committee, said. "We'll do our best to prevent any of those wrongdoings." He also played down the possibility of random bombings at the Olympics in which more than 200 countries take part.

Organisers of Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympics said Tuesday public support for their campaign had risen to 77 percent as IOC inspectors continued a fact-finding tour of three candidate cities. The support rate was up four points from January, the Tokyo bid committee said, citing its own telephone surveys. The rate started at 58 percent in July last year. A team from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluation commission visited Tokyo from March 4-7 to scrutinise the bid and inspect existing and planned facilities for the Games.

The president of Madrid's bid to host the 2020 Olympics, Alejandro Blanco said Wednesday he expects the Spanish capital will receive the highest technical score when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission publish their reports all three candidate cities. Madrid received a higher score than Tokyo and Istanbul after initial reports carried out by the IOC last May and after three days of the Evaluation Commission's visit to inspect the facilities on offer in Madrid, he sees no reason why it shouldn't remain so.

Hosting the 2020 Olympic Games in Madrid would provide a 3.87-billion euro ($5.0-billion) boost to the Spanish economy and generate 83,000 full-time jobs, Madrid bid organisers said Tuesday. "Organising the Games would also generate a positive impact on citizens' welfare estimated at over 800 million dollars," added Juan Antonio Samaranch, a member of Madrid's bid committee on the second day of an inspection visit by the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission.