Istanbul to Announce Bid Saturday; Swiss Choose Bid Cities; Toronto Out

(ATR) Istanbul will announce they are bidding for the 2020 Olympics on Saturday, Around the Rings has learned.

Olympic officials in Turkey tell ATR that an announcement will be made on Saturday at the Turkish National Olympic Committee headquarters in Istanbul.

Making the announcement will be Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ugur Erdener. Erdener is TNOC president, and also an IOC member and president of the archery federation.

This will be a fifth Turkish bid. Istanbul launched unsuccessful campaigns for the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Games.

Madrid, Rome and Tokyo are the other 2020 bid cities. Other cities may enter the race shortly. Cities have until Sept. 1 to formally declare their candidacy.

A vote on the 2020 host comes at the 2013 IOC Session in Buenos Aires.

Joint Swiss Bid

The Swiss Olympic Association is backing a joint-bid from Davos and St. Moritz for the 2022 Olympics.

SOA secretary general Joerg Schild told the Associated Press they chose the joint bid over Geneva. According to the report, the SOA felt an urban bid, which is what Geneva proposed, would not be as appealing as a mountain-based bid.

First, Swiss sport federations must approve the bid. A vote will happen next April.

One potential problem for a joint bid is that the IOC has struck down previous efforts from two cities to bid for the Olympics together.

St. Moritz staged the Olympics in 1928 and 1948—the last time Switzerland staged the Games.

Toronto Out

Toronto’s mayor Rob Ford says Toronto will not bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Ford says the Games are too costly. Toronto is also staging the 2015 Pan American Games.

Toronto bid for the 1996 and 2008 Olympics, coming up short both times.

A bid movement from Toronto was never particularly strong. The campaign received early backing from Ontario political leaders and Olympians.

Written by Ed Hula III.