(ATR) Madrid 2020 says Barcelona’s plans to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics if the Spanish capital fails to secure hosting rights will not hurt its campaign.
According to a French media report, Barcelona mayor Xavier Trias and city officials are developing a Barcelona-Pyrenees bid to submit to the IOC if the Madrid loses the three-city race for the 2020 Games.
Trias confirmed the 1992 Olympic city’s aspirations for the Winter Games during a meeting of the Franco-Spanish entrepreneurs to support the implementation of the "Mediterranean Corridor", L’independent reports.
But Madrid 2020 claims Barcelona’s bid preparations will not impact its third consecutive pitch for the summer version.
"Barcelona is one of the co-host cities of the Madrid 2020 bid. Both the regional and city governments have given all guarantees requested by the IOC in order to host some of the preliminary football matches in the Madrid 2020 project," a Madrid 2020 spokeswoman told Around the Rings.
The 56,000-seat Lluís Companys Stadium in Spain’s second largest city would stage football.
Serrano noted that the Barcelona mayor spoke in support of the Spanish capital’s Olympic ambitions on Jan. 31 during the first "Road to 2020" forum.
She claimed that he declared his "unconditional" support for the Madrid bid and said that the staging of the Games would be a "tremendous driving force for growth" for the Spanish capital and for the whole country.
If Madrid loses the 2020 bidding contest to either Istanbul or Tokyo, Trias is expected to pursue the development of a bid from Barcelona for the 2022 Games. But expressions of interest in staging those Games must be rubberstamped by the Spanish NOC before any submission is made to the IOC. Deadline for applications is Nov. 14.
Bids for 2022 are so far expected from Oslo, which will face a referendum Sept. 9; Lviv, which is anticipated to be Ukraine’s city of choice; Poland/Slovakia, which was formalized in March with the support of both prime ministers; and Munich, which awaits federal and state elections in September as well as the 2020 decision.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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