International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidential hopeful Denis Oswald does not believe that İstanbul's bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics has been hampered by ongoing protests in the city.
“It is a protest that can happen in any democratic country. We will see how it develops, how important it is. We are still three months away but for the time being I don't think it is a threat for the candidature,” he told reporters on a telephone conference call from Lausanne on Monday.
Madrid and Tokyo are also eyeing to host the sporting event in 2020 with the IOC set to select the host city in a vote in September.
Promoters of İstanbul's bid to host the 2020 Olympics remain confident that the Turkish people are united behind their campaign despite fierce anti-government protests around the country in recent days.
“Despite these recent events, all sections of Turkey remain united in our dream to host our nation's first-ever Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020,” İstanbul 2020 backers said in a statement on Sunday. “The slogan for our Olympic bid is ‘Bridge Together,' and there is a common desire to unite in the Olympic spirit and show the world that we can work together for a better Turkey.”
Meanwhile, Oswald, the Swiss head of the international rowing federation and a long-time IOC executive board member who was part of the decision-making process until 2012, distanced himself from the body's current leadership, saying the exclusion of wrestling from the 2020 Olympics could have been handled better and that more sports could join the Games. The ancient sport, part of all Games since 1896, apart from the 1900 Olympics, would no doubt win back its Games spot after making a three-sport shortlist for inclusion in the 2020 Games, Oswald said.
Baseball/softball and squash are the other two shortlisted sports and the IOC will select one winning sport at its session in Buenos Aires in September. IOC President Jacques Rogge said last week that the organization had made no mistake in the controversial affair.
“I am no longer on the executive board ... but I must say I was very surprised that wrestling was eliminated,” Oswald, bidding against five other candidates for the presidency, said. |
Source : worldbulletin.net
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