The first Olympic 10K Marathon Swim was held in a warm-water rowing basin at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The second Olympic 10K Marathon Swim was held in the cooler waters of the Serpentine at the 2012 London Olympic Games. The third Olympic 10K Marathon Swim will be held in the potentially rough waters of Copacabana Beach at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

And where will the fourth Olympic 10K Marathon Swim be held?

The International Olympic Committee released its evaluation report for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games (XXXII Olympiad). The report outlines the Commission’s observations, opinions and overview of the evaluators’ visits to the three candidate cities bidding to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games: Istanbul (Turkey), Tokyo (Japan) and Madrid (Spain).

Bridge Together: Istanbul 2020 aspires to reposition Turkey and to foster global understanding and inclusiveness by being the first secular Muslim country to host the Games. With the Bosphorus as a key element, Games planning seeks to highlight a city on two continents with competitions to take place in Europe and Asia.

Discover Tomorrow: Tokyo 2020 envisions a unique celebration that would help reinforce the Olympic values and demonstrate the benefits of sport to a new generation, as the 1964 Tokyo Games did. Tokyo 2020 seeks to use the power of sport to offer hope to the Japanese people and promote national spirit, unity and confidence, in particular following the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

Futuro Ciudad: Madrid 2020 includes initiatives to regenerate green spaces, improve transport infrastructure and construct new sports facilities. Madrid aspires to promote social integration through sport and to share Spain’s passion for sport with the rest of the world under the bid motto of Illuminate the Future.

Istanbul and Madrid appear to be the frontrunners with Tokyo far behind in polls of where the IOC may vote.

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