LONDON (AFP) - Tokyo's Olympic rivals can count on heavyweight backers like Barack Obama and Pele, but the Japanese capital's 2016 bid leaders believe they can overcome the star factor and bring the Games back to Asia.

With the race to stage the Olympics gathering pace, Tokyo is plotting to make light of its outsider tag by pipping Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro to the post in the International Olympic Committee's October vote.

Tokyo is regarded as one of the less favoured cities because the summer Olympics were staged in Asia - in Beijing - only last year, while it also lacks the cache of a globally recognisable figure to front the bid.

Chicago can call on big hitters like new American president Obama - who made his name in the 'windy city' - and basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Brazilian footballing icon Pele, arguably the most famous sportsman in the world, is promoting Rio's bid and Real Madrid's Raul is only one of a galaxy of football stars lending lustre to the Spanish capital's attempt to land the Games.

In stark contrast there are few top-level sporting personalities associated with Tokyo.

Kosuke Kitajima, who won two golds at the Athens Olympics in 2004 in the men's 100m and 200m breaststroke, Ai Shibata, winner of the women's 800m freestyle in Athens, and Koji Murofushi, the Athens gold-medalist winning hammer-thrower, have pledged to back the bid, but none are recognisable outside of Asia.

Yet Hidetoshi Maki, deputy Director General of the Tokyo bid, is convinced that the cult of celebrity should be overlooked when it comes to considering the overall strength of each city.

"We are not led by the big stars. We don't have Barack Obama, we don't have Michael Jordan. But again I have to state that the Olympics is not staged by the person, it is won and staged by a team. We are promoting the team and the city itself," Maki said.

"The only way we can win is to make the bid as attractive as possible to the IOC and we are focusing all our efforts on that.

"The new facilities we will build will be used for another 50 years. We hope to leave that legacy from the Olympics.

"We are promoting this idea and this plan to the IOC. At the Olympics the most important thing is the venue, the city and the people - the actual stage."

Tokyo is at least assured of the backing of Japanese Prime Minister Tara Aso, who competed in the shooting event at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

Aso is set to go to Copenhagen for the IOC's vote announcement in October and Maki confirmed: "It is a political decision but he was an Olympian and supports the bid."

With the fame game off the agenda for Tokyo, Maki insists the Japan bid will focus on leaving a lasting legacy in the city.

The success of London's 2012 winning bid has greatly influenced the Tokyo approach and Maki wants to use the Games to promote greater participation in sport in Asia.

"We are so impressed with the London bid. They believe that the Olympics promotes sport to the youth and all the ages. That idea is followed by Tokyo," he said.