Rogge backs London Olympic bid

LONDON (Reuters) -- IOC chief Jacques Rogge has told the British Government that London would be one of the front-runners in the bidding to stage the 2012 Olympics, British newspapers reported Saturday.

Rogge met with Britain's Culture, Media and Sport Minister Tessa Jowell in Lausanne on Friday, describing London as "an extremely strong contender" to host the games.

"It was a very friendly, enormously useful meeting," Jowell said. "Jacques Rogge made it clear there would be no obstacles to London bidding, no inalienable weakness.

"I made it clear to Mr Rogge that we were on course to make a decision whether to back a bid by the end of January and assured him that, if we do bid, we would go hell for leather to win.

"He was absolutely clear that the playing field will be a level one. There is no impediment for London that will put it behind other bids."

Following his meeting with Jowell, Rogge said in a brief statement that he was able to help her "with some information on the games which she required."

"I confirmed to her that the IOC would be pleased to receive a well prepared London bid," he added.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has said it will not make a bid for 2012 without the explicit support of the government.

On Tuesday, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said he supported a London Olympics in principle, but added that he did not think the public would want money diverted from schools or hospitals.

A government-commissioned opinion poll has shown 81 percent support throughout Britain for an Olympic bid.

Earlier this week, Jowell said the government would stick by its deadline of January 31 to decide whether to support the BOA's bid.

A consultancy firm has estimated the cost of staging a Games in London at approximately 3.6 billion pounds (US$5.75 billion).

The BOA is required to inform the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of the name of any bidding city by July this year, with full bids due by November 2004.

New York, Moscow, Paris, Toronto, a German and a Spanish city are likely candidates when the IOC makes its final decision in July, 2005.

London staged the 1908 and 1948 Summer Games. Next year's Olympics will be hosted by Athens, while Beijing has been awarded the 2008 Games.

 

Related information

Stories

Sports body says lottery could fund London Games

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.