nail down
IETS参加者の皆様、お疲れ様です。私も最終日に参加させていただくことを楽しみにしております。
マー君の20連勝を伝えるニュースで見かけた表現が、オリンピック招致関連の記事を読んでいた際にも目にとまったのでアップします。
nail downは「釘付けにする、釘で留める」（『新英和大辞典』研究社）の意から転じて「＜事を＞決定的にする、確実にする」（ibid）という意味を持ちます。とりわけ、「勝利」と結びつきが強い表現である印象を受けました。www.thefreedictionary.com では、“to win”と定義されており、例文には“nailed down another victory in the golf tournament”という表現が掲載されています。 (sy)
Smart game plan paid off for capital
BUENOS AIRES – For Tokyo, forecasting the voting results of the International Olympic Committee’s general session was always part of the game plan to win the 2020 Summer Olympics, and the Japanese capital did that — nearly down to the final vote on Saturday.
Tokyo, having learned the lessons of its failed bid for the 2016 Games, used a strategic lobbying campaign focused on an administration change orchestrated by Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, the influential Kuwaiti sheik who has thrown his weight behind German IOC Vice President Thomas Bach to succeed IOC President Jacques Rogge in Tuesday’s vote.
Al-Sabah, who is president of the Olympic Council of Asia and is widely known in IOC circles as the “Kingmaker,” weaves an intricate web. “The election for the new IOC president and the host city are a complete set,” a Tokyo bid consultant, who requested anonymity, told Kyodo News.
In the buildup to the vote, Tokyo bid chief Tsunekazu Takeda had said Tokyo expected to get around 40 of the IOC’s votes in the first round of the secret ballot. A day before the votes were cast, Tokyo forecasted 41 but figured it could nail down as many as 43; 42 of the 94 participants voted for Tokyo, just six shy of a majority that would have sealed its victory right out of the gate.
