2016 Candidate Cities Summarize Bids to IOC
23.06.2009All four 2016 Candidate Cities were in Lausanne, Switzerland, last week from 17-18 June for a briefing session presenting their bid once more to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The briefings have resulted in dozens of questions from IOC members and also gave media a good opportunity to meet each of the Candidate Cities. The session follows the four-day visits to each of the Candidate Cities, which include Chicago (USA), Madrid (Spain), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Tokyo (Japan). The IOC’s Evaluation Commission is led by IOC Member Nawal El Moutawakel, and includes International Paralympic Committee (IPC) representative Greg Hartung.
The event in Lausanne was the first time that the Candidate Cities have had the opportunity to brief the members in this manner. The evolution comes from the IOC’s evaluation process of previous bid procedures, where it was felt that another opportunity to present the technical elements of the bids would be appreciated by everyone involved.
IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli commented: "Under the leadership of President Rogge, the IOC has developed a strong focus on the transfer of knowledge between Games, in order to ensure that the Games remain as the number one sporting event in the world. The bid process is also a part of that, and there was a strong feeling, following the 2014 bid, that a technical meeting like this would be useful for all concerned. We have taken that feedback on board and all the Candidate Cities now have an additional opportunity to make their case in detail, on an equal platform and in a less formal way than at the Session at which the host city is elected."
The presentations and on-site visits, which took place in April and May, provided the Evaluation Commission with an in-depth look into 17 different themes from each of the cities, including Paralympic Games, transportation, accommodation, technology, media operations, environment and meteorology, finance, security, sport and venues and Athletes village(s).
The 2016 Evaluation Commission is in the process of producing its evaluation report, which will be distributed no later than one month before election day on 2 October 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
For more information about the bid for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, please visit the official website of the IOC at www.olympic.org.
