Budapest 2024 Unveils First CGI of Venues with Stage 2 Submission

As the Budapest Bid submits its proposal for stage two of itscandidature to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024, the Computer Generated Images (CGI) of three landmark venues have been released to the sport community.

This is the first of several releases planned by Budapest 2024 and includes two temporary venues from the City Park Cluster, one existing standalone venue and a spectator site:

-City Park Cluster

-Heroes’ Square Stadium: Cycling (Road), Athletics

(Marathon), Athletics (Race Walks)

-Liget Beach Volleyball Centre: Beach Volleyball

-Mountain Bike Centre: Cycling (Mountain Bike)

-Castle Garden Bazaar: Cycling (Road) spectator site

The City Park Cluster is set against a stunning backdrop of Art Nouveau architecture and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site formed by the "Banks of the Danube". It includes several listed buildings, including the Vajdahunyad Castle, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Széchenyi Thermal Bath. Beach volleyball will be situated in

a location popular with tourists - outside the much-photographed Vajdahunyad Castle building of Budapest.

CGI have also been released of the Castle Garden Bazaar – one of several planned spectator sites that will showcase the road cycling competition. Also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, this historic complex is a collection of nineteenth-century buildings and pleasure gardens.

The new Mountain Bike Centre is one of five standalone venues in the Budapest proposal. An initial pitch to build a new facility was rejected in favour of an existing venue. This adjustment was recently approved by the Budapest city council, along with other improvements to the 2024 Master Plan.

Speaking at an all-day "Olympic Camp" with the Budapest 2024 Athletes’ Commission and István Tarlós, the Mayor of Budapest, the Chairman of the Bid, Balázs Fürjes, discussed ongoing refinements to the Hungarian Master Plan. These refinements include reducing the Media Villages from four to three and moving Opening and ClosingCeremonies to the Puskás Ferenc Stadium.

"We have reached a new milestone in submitting the second stage of our proposal in Governance, Legal and Venue Funding," said Fürjes. "We completely embrace the IOC’s new process for bidding cities, which allows us to continue to hone all aspects of our Games concept over the lifetime of the bid. This process takes place with input from our Athletes’ Commission, the international sport federations, subject matter experts in Olympic planning and delivery, and of course the IOC. While the geography of the city affords us a natural inclination to Agenda 2020, we are always on the lookout for areas where we can improve and refine, reducing costs and strengthening sustainability and legacy. The Budapest Bid has to be right for Hungarians, it has to be right for the IOC and it has to be right for the athletes and fans."

The seven venue clusters featured in the Budapest Games concept are located within a seven-kilometre radius from the City Centre and have been designed to create one single Olympic Park in the Hungarian capital. Planners have optimised the existing transport and public infrastructure by making the most of the short travel times between clusters. The result is an intimate and compact Games model, with a citywide festival atmosphere.

The Budapest model also allows for widespread pedestrian and bikeaccess via the Active Route Network (ARN): 38 kilometres of existing and planned pedestrian walkways and 120 kilometres of existing and planned cycle track. To cycle from the city centre to the City Park Cluster via the ARN will take approximately 11 minutes (based on a 15

km/hour cycling speed).

For more information, please contact:

Iván RÓZSA

Director of International Communications

Tel: +36 30 538 3863

Email: ivan.rozsa@budapest2024.org

www.budapest2024.org

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