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[gotosy]

2020 Olympic candidates seek London boost

By Pirate Irwin (AFP)

LONDON — The London Olympics have not yet started but the three candidates still in the race to host the 2020 Summer Games are gearing up to make an impression in the British capital.

Tokyo, the only one of the three to have previously hosted the Games back in 1964, Istanbul and Madrid will learn their fate in Buenos Aires on September 13 next year when International Olympic Committee members vote.

The trio survived the initial cut when the short-list was voted on by the IOC Executive Board in Quebec City in May -- Doha and Baku having been voted off -- and Tokyo remain the frontrunners.

There are no doubts about their ability to host the showpiece, both in financial and infrastructure terms.

But perhaps another more powerful argument in their favour is that IOC members may be swayed into voting for the Japanese bid after the quake-tsunami disaster which left about 19,000 people dead or missing last year.

"It is a powerful argument, IOC members like a story and also are especially keen on the legacy message," a source close to the IOC told AFP.

"What better legacy than to give them the Games for 2020 which will have a knock on effect in their eyes in terms of restoring morale to the Japanese people.

"With all those factors in their plus column it is basically Tokyo's race to lose."

However, the other two candidates can be heartened by the fact that often the front runner a year out has come to grief when the votes have been cast.

Paris for the 2012 Games, Pyeongchang for the 2014 Winter Games and Chicago for the 2016 Summer Olympics are just recent examples of favourites to have fallen at the final hurdle.

Istanbul, especially, are seen as the one capable of upsetting the odds after several tepid bids.

Their making the short-list was especially significant as the bid had looked to have been fatally undermined when Turkey also bid for football's 2020 European Championship, having been largely encouraged to by UEFA President Michel Platini.

Under IOC rules no country can host another major sporting event in the same year as a Games.

But now the Euro host will be chosen after the IOC vote has taken place and the Turkish government has said if successful for the Games they will withdraw from the Euro campaign.

Certainly Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lent his full support to the bid.

Not only will he attend the London Games for several days, but he also sent the Turkish athletes off with a rousing speech at the weekend.

"The London 2012 Games is very significant for us, for Turkey," said the 58-year-old, who has been in power since 2003.

"Your success in London will have a big contribution to Turkey's bid process for 2020.

"As you know, we have set ambitious goals for 2023, the 100th anniversary of our Republic's foundation.

"Bringing the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games to Turkey, would be the crowning achievement for 2023's 100th anniversary celebrations."

Madrid's success in making the short-list raised eyebrows given the economic crisis affecting the country and their determination to go one better than they did for the 2016 race -- they lost out to Rio -- has caused even more surprise.

"They have turned the economic argument on its head in the manner in which they are trying to convince IOC members that they should host the Games," the source told AFP.

"They say that if they get the Games the boost it will give to the economy will put right a lot of the malaise currently being felt throughout the country.

"It's a gutsy line to take but whether it will wash may be decided more by outside forces than by the IOC members in 2013.
"

AFP

[Athensfan]

Good story^^^.

[Luffy]

I really don't get all that stuff about promoting the bid at events and all.


London for example was a fantastic bid with some great people working on it but i really thought they were really the weakest (against Madrid & Paris as the others two were never that much in contention despite a good showing in votes) in terms of advertising the bid, of getting people to support it.


Surely in the last few weeks/Months they did a great job of promoting London and the bid finally get great support in UK and abroad but it wasn't the marathon that Madrid & Paris had run.

I always thought that the image of London beating Madrid & Paris in the final 100 m of the race was the most accurate ever. It doesn't mean that their bid was weaker for sure or their runner wasn't as good as the two over, it just had to start making an effort at the right time.

Promoting your bid for months is useless, all you need is a good bid in an iconic city, a good inspection, and a strong presentation.


Which IOC member is going to vote for Turkey, Japan or Spain based on what they did at the London Olympics or any sports events until the IOC session?

Which IOC member wasn't going to take a city like London in contention just because they decided to bid late and took more time to put the bid togepher and to promote it?

[Athensfan]

I really don't get all that stuff about promoting the bid at events and all.


London for example was a fantastic bid with some great people working on it but i really thought they were really the weakest (against Madrid & Paris as the others two were never that much in contention despite a good showing in votes) in terms of advertising the bid, of getting people to support it.


Surely in the last few weeks/Months they did a great job of promoting London and the bid finally get great support in UK and abroad but it wasn't the marathon that Madrid & Paris had run.

I always thought that the image of London beating Madrid & Paris in the final 100 m of the race was the most accurate ever. It doesn't mean that their bid was weaker for sure or their runner wasn't as good as the two over, it just had to start making an effort at the right time.

Promoting your bid for months is useless, all you need is a good bid in an iconic city, a good inspection, and a strong presentation.


Which IOC member is going to vote for Turkey, Japan or Spain based on what they did at the London Olympics or any sports events until the IOC session?

Which IOC member wasn't going to take a city like London in contention just because they decided to bid late and took more time to put the bid togepher and to promote it?

On the whole I agree with you, however I do think that some IOC members may make up their mind early. Obviously it's the home-stretch that counts, but you still have to set yourself up for it. If you can bank a few votes earlier on, why not try to do so? Of course the key word there is "if". There's no real way to know at what point the voters make up their minds. It seems to me that a city must at least keep pace with it's competitors for the duration of the race. No one can shut down completely for a few months, but the key elements are the following:

1.) The bid book.
2.) The Evaluation Committee visit.
3.) The Sport Accord presentations.
4.) The final presentations before the vote.
5.) Private conversations and "pillow talk" taking place throughout the race, but especially in the last 3 or 4 months.

Everything else is just window dressing -- the required elements that everyone must perform in order to appear on equal footing with the competition.

[intoronto]

Believe me promoting helps. Toronto was in Beijing promoting its bid and in the Caribbean Olympic meeting while its competitiors were not. Toronto won, and people attribute the huge margin of win due to the lobbying done in Beijing and the Caribbean.

[Luffy]

But you can't really compare any race with the olympic one, it's 100 people voting from all around the world with different points of view, customs, religions, way of living etc.


It's so much harder to find what will have wild appeal to all the IOC members than to give the Pan am, commonwealth members or UEFA members what they want.


Besides there is no sport event bidding where people have so much interest and media coverage than the olympics.

[baron-pierreIV]

Which IOC member is going to vote for Turkey, Japan or Spain based on what they did at the London Olympics or any sports events until the IOC session?

Which IOC member wasn't going to take a city like London in contention just because they decided to bid late and took more time to put the bid togepher and to promote it?

Of course NOT. Haven't you heard of schmoozing, networking, working behind-the-scenes where sometimes the power actually lays?? As you said, in a clubby organization of only over 100 voters, you have to grab their attention one way or another with the final presentation being the corker. BUt in the meantime, you would've worked them over or tried to reach out to them already before. If you ain't in it, you ain't gonna win it.

[paul92]

Of course NOT. Haven't you heard of schmoozing, networking, working behind-the-scenes where sometimes the power actually lays??

Agreed, has nobody ever played The Sims 2 and invited the headmaster of the private school over?...

Anyway, back on topic - Sebastian Coe (Lord) is accredited with making London 2012 possible for how close and how much of this 'schmoozeing' he did with the IOC committee.

[Kenadian]

The IOC ultimately picks the team they trust most to organize the Games. Ad campaigns and websites win over the populace, but the behind the scenes networking and face-time wins the support in that 100+ member circle.

[emre]

Istanbul will make a bidding plan rather than adverts and commerials but face to face with IOC members, NOCs sports ministers and presidents of the countries as PM erdogan said...

we need a good video :/