Multiple Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis has backed Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games, hailing the Japanese city's strong pedigree for organizing big sporting events.

Tokyo is competing with Istanbul and Madrid to host the Olympics for a second time after becoming the first Asian city to host the multi-sport event in 1964.

Lewis, a nine-time Olympic champion, visited Japan's National Stadium late last month, a venue where he set two world records at the 1991 world athletics championships and narrowly lost arguably the greatest long jump final to compatriot Mike Powell.