Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago (picture) put a definitive end to Rome’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games yesterday after the city’s newly elected mayor refused to support the project.
“I wrote to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today to withdraw Rome-2024 from the running,” Malago told a specially convened press conference.
Rome’s ill-fated bid to host the Games was effectively killed off last month when the city council voted in favour of the new mayor’s request to withdraw support. Nearly two thirds of councillors backed mayor Virginia Raggi’s position that the cash-strapped city needs to sort out its own problems before it is in a position to host the Games.
“I’m forced to interrupt this process eleven months from its conclusion and after three years of work,” said Malago. “It’s a pity because our project was a winning project. It’s irresponsible to have to give up the IOC money and the 177,000 jobs which would have been created.”
Italy’s Olympic committee CONI had already accepted that the bid was dead in the water and has said a new attempt to get the Games was unlikely for at least 20 years. Italy hosted the Summer Olympics once in Rome 1960, and the Winter Games three times — most recently Turin 2006.
Raggi, a member of the populist Five Star Movement, had made it clear before she was elected in June that she did not think the Italian capital should be bidding for the Olympics at a time when its creaking transport system and other public services are falling apart for lack of investment.
Rome’s withdrawal leaves Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris battling for the right to host the global sporting event.
Malago said the decision to withdraw the bid was a “very grave renunciation and a great disappointment”.
“I always said this bid was a table supported by three legs (CONI, government and local authority). One of those legs gave way, for ideological and demagogic reasons,” he said. “Virginia Raggi has in her hands all the latest opinion polls which show that more and more Romans are favourable towards the Games. There is not one single one who gives a different result.”
CONI in 2011 also pulled out of a bid to host the 2020 Games because the Prime Minister at the time Mario Monti believed the country did not have the financial means.
“It’s now my duty to try and regain international credibility for our sports system. This is why I’ve decided to present Milan as a candidate to host the IOC congress in 2019. This is the saddest day of my presidency,” said Malago, who has been in office since 2013.
Mayor Raggi said last month that her administration was against hosting the Olympics because it was too much of a financial burden for the debt-ridden city.
“Olympic Games are a dream which at a certain point turn into a nightmare,” she said.
The city council had originally sponsored the idea in 2015, but under a different administration led by the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, which was badly defeated by Raggi’s M5S in June.
“We have taken note of the decision by Rome 2024 and will further explore with the Candidature Committee what this means,” an IOC spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. “All the circumstances and the information that we have received in the past days clearly demonstrate that this is about Italian politics only,” the statement added.
Rome is not the first city to exit the race. Germany’s Hamburg had also filed a bid, but it was blocked in a referendum last year. In September 2015, Los Angeles stepped in for Boston which lacked public, political and financial support. The IOC will announce the successful candidate on September 13 next year.
Timeline
January 8, 2015: US Olympic Committee (USOC) selects Boston as US bidder for 2024 Games.
March 16, 2015: German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) picks Hamburg as German bidder.
July 27, 2015: Boston’s bid is withdrawn over lack of public support and other uncertainties.
Sept 1, 2015: USOC announces Los Angeles as new US bidder.
Sept 15, 2015: Los Angeles,
Hamburg, Paris, Rome and
Budapest meet International
Olympic Committee (IOC) deadline and submit their candidacy.
Nov 29, 2015: A referendum stops Hamburg’s bid, with 51.6 per cent of the voters opposing the Games.
June 1, 2016: IOC executive board confirms Los Angeles, Paris, Rome and Budapest as candidate cities for the next stage of the bid.
Sept 21, 2016: New Rome mayor Virginia Raggi officially announces opposition to bid, city council votes against bid on September 29.
October 11, 2016: Rome’s bid is
formally withdrawn by Italian Olympic Committee.
December 6, 2016: IOC executive board to decide which candidate cities advance to next bid stage.
February-June 2017: IOC evaluation commission to visit candidate cities and check the facilities; publication of its report in June.
Sept 13, 2017: Election of 2024 host city at IOC Session in Lima.
Giovanni Malago
