Wednesday January 9, 2013
2020 Games trio prepare for IOC file delivery
PARIS: The three candidates to host the 2020 Olympics will take a huge step on the road to who will be designated the winner in Buenos Aires on Sept 7 when they present their candidature files to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday in Lausanne.
Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo will all be sending high profile delegations to hand over their dossiers which have been painstakingly put together and will be hoping the details meet with the approval of the majority of the IOC members when they vote in eight months’ time.
With IOC members visits a thing of the past, since the reforms brought in following the Salt Lake City bribes for votes scandal, the dossier will be carefully studied before the all-important visit of the IOC Evaluation Commission, headed by IOC Vice-president Craig Reedie.
The common perception has been that Istanbul has a fantastic chance to become the first country with a majority Muslim population to host the Games and has made great play on being situated on two continents.
“The athletes will have the unique experience of sleeping on the European continent and competing on the Asian continent,” said their chief executive Hasan Arat.
Now their emotive and effective message will have to be backed up by the facts if they are to maintain momentum in what is the most competitive of the five bids the city has put up.
Istanbul too is making great play out of their relative upbeat economic situation exemplified by a record breaking mark on their stock exchange just before the New Year which edged over the 78,000 points mark.
Turkey’s government is aiming to take the country into the top ten world economies in time for the republic’s 2023 centenary, and in 2012 Turkey’s credit rating was upgraded to ‘Investment Grade’. — AFP
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