2012 SUMMER OLYMPIC & PARALYMPIC GAMES CANDIDATE CITY

 

2012 Summer Olympic Games
to take place 27 July to 12 August
followed by
Paralympics from 29 August to 9 September

LONDON, ENGLAND

IT'S NOT TO BE MADRID

Although it is not long since the Olympic Games of 1992 were held in Barcelona, Spain obviously thought they stood a good chance of success in bidding for the 2012 games. Madrid was chosen as the candidate city and subsequently made the chort list, beating cities in Germany, Turkey, Cuba and Brasil.

Following the final assessment visit from the IOC Committee they were full of confidence, although it has to be said that they faced stiff competition from their rival contenders, including Paris and London, who are the favourites. The people of Madrid, the Madrileños are fully supportive of the bid and during the visit from the IOC inspection team, a royal reception was held, demonstrating the support for the project.

Madrid had the advantage of already having many of the needed facilities already in place which could be used to host Olympic events. For example, such are their facilites that during the year 2005 the International Indoor Athletics Championships were be held in the newly renovated sports stadium.

Being a popular tourist centre there is plenty of hotel accommodation (although it was felt that more hotel accommodation would be needed) and a whole host of museums, art galleries and other places of cultural interest for competitors and spectators alike to enjoy. As well as a good network of road, rail and air links to make the most of exploring the rest of Spain.

Security might have been a concern in the light of certain terrorist activities in the city in recent times. It was, however, just one of a list of considerations examined by the IOC

Madrid was eliminated in the final voting in Singapore and the final choice was between London and Paris with London finally being announced as the 2012 Olympic Games Host City.