Czech Government to Ponder Prague Bid
Prague 2016's Olympic bid could come to a premature end this week if the Czech government fails to provide the necessary legal guarantees.
Prague bid leaders may consider a 2020 bid they are not successful for 2016. (ATR)Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will convene a meeting of government ministers Jan. 9, which will effectively decide the fate of the Czech capital's Olympic bid.
The IOC requires all seven bid cities in the race for 2016 to include government guarantees in their initial bid books due in Lausanne Jan. 14. But Prague has struggled to win the backing of the government in recent months.
Despite optimism from bid leaders, City Hall and the Czech Olympic Committee, scepticism of the Olympic plans at the highest levels of government threaten to derail the bid.
Prague 2016 officials face a nervous wait to find out if their campaign can proceed or if it will be dead in the water come Wednesday evening.
But they are refusing to entertain the idea that their Olympic bid could be extinguished this week.
“I am not playing the 'if' game,” Jirí Zednícek, vice-president of the Czech Olympic Committee, tells Around the Rings.
“We should wait until Wednesday. I am quite optimistic that we will get the government guarantees required by the IOC,” he said.
“Until that decision is made I don't think there is anything to discuss.”
If government ministers fail to lend their unequivocal support this week, Prague 2016 officials will consider submitting the bid book to the IOC without guarantees.
They say the lack of a sports minister until the recent appointment of Ondrej Liska has delayed efforts to secure full government backing and would request more time to gain the guarantees.
“We will have two bid books and must be ready for two situations,” Prague 2016 spokesman Karol Tejkal told ATR. “We are bidding and want to be a candidate city. We hope it's a good situation with government support.”
But such a move is unlikely to curry favour with the IOC, especially as the other six cities in the 2016 race – Baku, Chicago, Doha, Madrid, Rio and Tokyo – are all set to provide complete application files with the necessary guarantees by Monday's deadline.
Prague Mayor Pavel Bem, who will meet with the PM Wednesday, says that if the government does not grant the legal guarantees, it will damage the Czech Republic's reputation.
A City Hall General Assembly will also take place the same day and the press conference that follows will announce the government's intentions.
If the government green lights the Olympic bid, financial guarantees are likely to be discussed at a later date.
But a City Hall source told ATR the government's decision was hard to predict. “I have been on many of the internet chat sites and there is much opposition against the Olympic Games. It's a 50-50 chance,” he said.
Prague 2016 and the Czech Olympic Committee will hold a press conference Thursday to announce their next steps in the bid race.
Baku Poised to Launch Logo and Website
Leaders of Baku 2016 tell Around the Rings they are planning to unveil their new logo and website in an official ceremony later this week.
Ilham Madatov, head of international relations at the Azerbaijan Ministry of Youth and Sport, said the plan was to launch the logo and website to Azerbaijan sports dignatories and media on Friday.
He said Baku was on schedule to submit its questionnaire and application file to the IOC by the Jan. 14 deadline.
The logo made its first appearance on the new Baku 2016 website when it went live just over a week ago; it was approved by the IOC just before Christmas.
The six dancing figures comprising the logo are based on prehistoric rock drawings - known as petroglyphs - found in Gobustan, at the Baku State Reserve of History, Ethnography and Arts, about 70km from Baku.
According to the Baku website, Gobustan is “a rocky massif on the bottom of the southeast part of the Great Caucasus Range, near the Caspian Sea and a modern highway built on the ancient Shirvan road”.
Baku is the last of the seven cities in the race for the 2016 Olympics to launch its logo and website.
While limited in content and lacking any design flair, the website does offer some interesting insights on the Azerbaijani capital's bid.
It also includes a compact history of Azerbaijan sport, providing a snapshot of the country's sporting traditions and the growth in popularity of volleyball and handball among other sports in recent years.
The Azerbaijan government is fully behind the bid, which is fronted by first vice premier Yagub Eyubov.
Baku's Olympic bid enjoys strong public support, although the city is unlikely to make it onto the IOC's short list of candidate cities in June.
Baku 2016 website
With reporting from Mark Bisson and Brian Pinelli.
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