Study Shows Copenhagen Possible Candidate For 2020 Or 2024 Olympic Games

A comprehensive feasibility study for a possible Copenhagen 2020 or 2024 Summer Olympic Games shows that financially it would be reasonable for Copenhagen to make a bid.

Lars Bernhard Jorgensen, Director of Wonderful Copenhagen, the tourism board, said, “the vision of hosting the Olympics has been well received and now that we have the report there is a strong platform to work from. For us it continues to be about attracting more international events to Copenhagen as these will work as a growth engine for Danish tourism”.

Last month Copenhagen was chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 2009 International Olympic Committee congress. In addition to being a world media event where the site of the 2016 Games will be announced, the congress will also be an important gathering of 4000 representatives from national sports associations, sponsors, trainers, athletes, and journalists to discuss the future of the Olympic Games.

The concept for the eventual Copenhagen Olympic Games bid, developed by TSE Consulting and Nordic consulting group RAMBOLL, was described as “a small nation’s Olympic Games”.

The dream of bringing the Summer Games to Copenhagen has been a priority for Minister of Culture Brian Mikkelsen. He said when Copenhagen was awarded the 2009 congress, “in 2009 world leaders will see that we can hold a major event and the world’s press will be focused on the city”.

According to the report hosting the 2020 Games would cost 24.5 billion Danish krones. Costs would be kept low by building temporary structures that could be disassembled after the Games, avoiding costs for permanent materials and land.

The report said Copenhagen’s existing infrastructure made the city a strong candidate. The city’s train and Metro system could, for example, easily shuttle athletes, delegates and visitors to the nearby Copenhagen Airport.

The event if successful would generate about 500 million Danish krones, said the report.

Mikkelsen called it an “exciting and interesting” report. “The government will continue to work with ideas and analyze the figures, but we will wait with definite announcements”.

Kai Holm, chairman of the Sports Confederation of Denmark (DIF), said last month before the report was released that Copenhagen shouldn’t expect to win the Games as a rookie bidder. He said, “a city has never won on the first try. But if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Maybe we can get it in 2028”. Write or read comments about this article

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