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Athletics fiasco no blot on London bid Posted: Sunday January 19, 2003 5:36 PMLONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A London bid to stage the 2012 Olympic Games would be well received despite the fiasco of the 2005 world athletics championships, International Olympic Commission (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge said on Sunday. "We would hope for a [London] bid, we would love to have a bid," Rogge told BBC Radio in an interview from his Brussels home. He added that the IOC was not be wary of Britain after it pulled out of staging the showpiece athletics event because of indecision over possible stadium venues. "[We would[ absolutely not [be wary], because the Commonwealth Games were a great success," Rogge said, referring to the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. "Wembley and Picketts Lock did not do much good for the reputation of Great Britain as a sports event organizer, but that is in the past and has been corrected by the excellent Commonwealth Games." London was forced in 2001 to withdraw from hosting the 2005 world athletics championships when the British government shelved a plan to build a new stadium. There had been proposals for stadiums at Wembley and Picketts Lock, both in north London. Rogge said London had a good chance of winning an Olympic bid. "The fundamentals are very strong, the reputation of British sport, the appeal of London as a city, the reputation of the United Kingdom as a stable, highly efficient country," he said. "We're convinced that if the government decides to support the bid we'd be totally confident that the government would be 100 percent behind the bid," Rogge added. The IOC chief would not be drawn on whether he had been given any hint in a meeting with Britain's Culture, Media and Sport Minister Tessa Jowell at IOC headquarters in Lausanne on Friday that the British government would support a London bid. Prime Minister Tony Blair's government will decide by the end of January whether to back a bid. Equal footing Rogge reiterated his statement on Friday that London would be on an equal footing with rival bidding cities. "No one can guarantee success, it's going to be a difficult competition for all the candidates. There is New York, Moscow, a Spanish city, a German city, a Brazilian city, it will be a battle royal between well known cities," he said. Rogge said the British government wanted to be sure the costs of staging the Olympic Games would be well controlled. "There are two budgets in the Games," he said. "The operational budget, what it takes to organize the Games themselves during that 16-days period is a budget totally privately funded and won't cost the British taxpayer anything. "The other budget is a capital investment in roadworks, transportation, venues that will leave a legacy for generations to come." A consultancy firm has estimated the cost of staging a Games in London at approximately 3.6 billion pounds (US$5.75 billion). The British Olympic Association (BOA), which has said it will not make a bid for 2012 without the explicit support of the government, must inform the IOC of the name of any bidding city by July this year, with full bids due by November 2004. The IOC makes its final decision in July, 2005. London staged the 1908 and 1948 Summer Olympic Games. Next year's Olympics will be hosted by Athens, while Beijing has been awarded the 2008 Games.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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