By Duncan Mackay

Tsunekazu_Takeda_head_and_shouldersJune 26 - Tsunekazu Takeda, the President of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC), is set to become a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a move that will help Tokyo if they bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.


IOC President Jacques Rogge is proposing to put Takeda's name forward to join the IOC next year, he has revealed. 

Takeda, 63, was not among the candidates nominated for IOC membership at the Executive Board meeting in London in April.

That will leave the IOC with no members from Japan for the first time in 103 years when current members Chiharu Igaya and Shunichiro Okano step down at the end of 2011 at the mandatory retirement age of 80.

Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, became the first Japanese and Asian member in 1909, serving until his death in 1938.

The lack of Japanse representation is a situation that Rogge is keenly aware of and has acted swiftly to solve the situation.

"My right is to make the proposal and I will make the proposal of Mr. Takeda because I trust him, because I believe he is a very good man and he will be a great asset within the IOC," Rogge told Kyodo News.

Takeda's position is expected to be officially confirmed at the IOC Session in London next year.

Rogge claimed that it was unfair to appoint Takeda before then, even though it will leave Japan without an IOC member for six months.

"To appoint an extra [Japanese] IOC member...is a bit difficult because you will give a third member to your country and 123 [nations] are saying we want an IOC member," he said.

If elected - which will be a formality - Takeda will be the 13th IOC member from Japan and the second from his family.

His father, Tsuneyoshi, who was a grandson of Emperor Meiji, also served as an IOC member.

Tsuneyoshi Takeda became President of the JOC in 1962 and was involved in the organisation of the1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.

He was a member of the 1967 to 1981, during which he was director of the Executive Board for five years.

Tsunekazu Takeda's main task when he is first elected will be to lobby on behalf of Tokyo, which is expected to next month officially launch its campaign to host the Summer Olympics for the first time since 1964.

It will be Tokyo's second consecutive bid having been beaten for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics by Rio de Janeiro.

"Tokyo was having a good bid last time," Rogge told Kyodo News.

"It did not win but the bid was very strong, so we considered that should there be [another Tokyo bid], we believed it was going to be a very strong bid."

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