Paris launched its campaign to win the 2012 Summer Olympics on Wednesday when mayor Bertrand Delanoe announced the city’s bid. It joins London, New York, Madrid, Moscow and the German city of Leipzig in the chase for the world’s biggest sporting extravaganza.
The British capital threw its hat into the ring last week after Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had delayed backing the bid because of the war in Iraq, pledged his support.
French President Jacques Chirac urged Delanoe last year to bid for the Games and the stage is now set for an intriguing contest between Blair and Chirac trying to woo the tycoons, sports officials and royalty who make up the International Olympic Committee.
Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo and the Canadian city of Toronto were expected to put in a bid before the July 15 deadline.
The IOC will name the city hosts in Singapore on 6 July 2005.
Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tygachev is to announce Moscow’s bid for the 2012 Olympics on Friday.
Leipzig is considered an outsider as only capital cities have a realistic chance of attracting the votes of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members.
It has yet to be decided whether Rio de Janiero or Sao Paulo will represent Brazil’s bid while Toronto was understood to be waiting to see if fellow Canadian city Vancouver’s bid for the 2010 Winter Games was successful before making a bid of its own.
For the 2010 Winter Games, the IOC will choose between Vancouver, Salzburg and the South Korean city of Pyeongchang at a meeting in Prague on July 2. If Vancouver wins the 2010 Winter Games then Toronto feel they have no chance for the 2012 Summer Games. A Vancouver win could also boost Europe’s chances of staging the 2012 Games because New York will find it harder to persuade the IOC to have two consecutive Games in North America.
The deadline for submissions for the 2012 Games is July 15, when bidding cities have to pay the IOC $150 000. The IOC executive board will decide in May or June 2004 which of the candidates has been accepted, when bidding cities have to pay
another $500 000 to stay in the race. After an evaluation commission survey, the IOC will announce in May 2005 which cities will go into the final election in Singapore on 6 July 2005.
The French held a successful Winter Games in 1992 in Albertville and a superb World Cup soccer tournament in 1998. They also beat England in April for the right to stage the 2007 Rugby World Cup. But the City of Light was humiliated by Beijing in its bid for the 2008 Olympics and lost out to Barcelona when it bid for the
1992 Olympics.
The key could be which leader, Blair or Chirac, has the most international influence.
A 2012 London Games would cost ₤2,375-billion ($3,85-billion). Britain last bid for the Olympics in 1993, when the northern English city of Manchester made a feeble run against Sydney for the 2000 Games.
An English bid for the 2006 World Cup soccer tournament was easily defeated by Germany. Madrid and Moscow have little chance because Spain held the
Games just 11 years ago in Barcelona and Moscow hosted them in 1980.
New York looks a strong candidate and the emotions surrounding the attacks of 11 September 2001 appear to help its case. But in reality the Big Apple will struggle because of the organisational nightmare of the 1996 Atlanta Games. There is also still anti-American feeling in the organisation from the bribery scandal surrounding Salt Lake City’s bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
Both London and Paris can be expected to put together strong technical plans for the Games and they will be virtual equals on key issues such as funding, accommodation and sports facilities. Britain will portray itself as a country of sports fans, using the superb atmosphere at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Manchester as an example of the nation’s appetite for sport.
Paris has the advantage that it already has its Olympic Stadium in place – the Stade de France – whereas London has yet to build facilities.
Both cities will work furiously to lobby the members of the IOC — made up of royalty, millionaires, former sports stars and international federation bosses.
There are few opportunities for bid leaders to meet IOC members under new anti-corruption rules imposed after the Salt Lake scandal.
Paris can boast a superior transport system to London’s and already has most of the necessary venue infrastructure in place. Paris already has what would be the main Olympic stadium with the 80 000-capacity Stade de France where this year’s world athletic championships are being held in August.
London has yet to build a main sports stadium — the reason it lost the 2005 world athletic championships. Critics fear the city’s already congested roads and chaotic
public transport system will be unable to cope with the influx of athletes, officials and spectators during the Games. London’s chances of winning the bid will depend on whether it can convince the IOC it can transform a part of deprived east
London into a state-of-the-art Olympic village. – Sapa-AFP