Madrid bid gets star support
Print Edition
A HOST of Spain’s biggest sports stars have lent their weight to Madrid’s bid to stage the 2020 Olympics with the final decision in Buenos Aires tomorrow.
Tokyo and Istanbul stand in the way of a first ever Olympiad in the Spanish capital and with fears over the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant and the fall-out from the ongoing Syrian civil war overshadowing their bids, respectively, Madrid has gained significant ground in recent months.
A star-studded group of athletes and administrators, including Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers and Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, will form part of Madrid’s lobbying team in the all-important final few days before the International Olympic Committee members case their vote tomorrow. And even those who can’t be in attendance have joined in to lend their weight to Madrid’s third straight bid for the Games.
“As sportsmen and Spaniards we support the bid,” said Vicente del Bosque, manager of the world champion Spanish football team. “It would be an enormous boost, not just to the capital but to the whole country.”
Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez also joined teammate Lionel Messi of Argentina in backing the Madrid bid.
The Madrid bid team will though be without one of its most vocal supporters in Buenos Aires as 12-time grand slam winner Rafael Nadal will instead be playing in the US Open semifinals.
Nadal, however, was quick to reaffirm his support for the bid. “Luckily I am here (in New York), but I would have loved to be there supporting such a wonderful cause. It would be a very positive boost for our country.”
Spanish paper El Mundo published names of up to 50 IOC members who were going to vote for Madrid. While 50 votes would give Madrid an unlikely win in the first round of voting, the revelations did not sit well with the members, who vote in a secret ballot.
History suggests it can rebound as Le Parisien newspaper did a similar thing before the vote on the 2012 Games host in 2005, which saw London edge out Paris in a shock result.
But outgoing IOC President Jacques Rogge, whose successor will be appointed next Tuesday, said he did not believe that Madrid would suffer from the revelations. “I would say that one shouldn’t pay any attention or give credit to this type of information,” said the 71-year-old, who has been at the helm for the last 12 years.
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