Istanbul, Tokyo, Madrid make first cut for 2020
Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid made the first cut among bidders to host the 2020 Olympics on Wednesday as the International Olympic Committee announced Baku and Doha had been dropped from the running.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: May 24, 2012 12:49 PM IST
Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid made the first cut among bidders to host the 2020 Olympics on Wednesday as the International Olympic Committee announced Baku and Doha had been dropped from the running.
The IOC will decide which city will host the 2020 Olympics in a final vote on September 7, 2013, at Buenos Aires.
That gives the trio of remaining hopefuls slightly more than 15 months to make final impressions upon the IOC and boost their candidacy.
To trim the field at this stage, IOC officials were looking mainly at a city's ability to host a major sporting event, ranking their transportation and other infrastructure challenges they face to ramp up in time for the event.
Tokyo are the only one of the candidates to have hosted the event, doing so in 1964, and are seen widely as the early front runners.
Istanbul's chances were seen as taking a hit when Turkey also announced they were bidding for the 2020 European football championship.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said earlier this month that IOC rules state that a Games host country cannot hold another major sports event in the same year.
Ordinarily Madrid would be seen as running Tokyo close as they beat them in the race for 2016 to finish runners-up to Rio de Janeiro, but the spectre of Spain's dire financial crisis hangs over them.
Japan's plan for hosting the Olympics has received wide praise while IOC members have noted the perseverance of the Japanese people in the wake of last year's tsunami and nuclear crisis to press ahead with their Olympic bid despite the tragedy.
As for the failed bidders, Doha failed to make the short list last time and controversy after Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup might have made the IOC reluctant to face the same media criticism as FIFA took.
Baku also failed to make the short list last time but organizers had pressed the case that they had learned from past mistakes and were ready to take their place among the main contenders, an arguement rejected by the IOC.