IOC Chief Backs Danish Olympic Bid

(ATR) As the IOC president tries to whip up more interest in Summer Olympic bidding, the Danish NOC chief tells Around the Rings it’s too early for Copenhagen.

Thomas Bach addressed the NOC’s congress in Copenhagen on Thursday, pointing to the Agenda 2020 bidding reforms as encouragement for the Danish capital to consider an Olympic bid.

"Agenda 2020 opens the door for smaller countries and cities by reducing the criteria on, for example, stadiums. We don’t need so many permanent sport arenas, and I can only encourage Copenhagen to seriously consider the possibility of going for it," Bach was quoted by Jyllands-Posten.

IOC member Prince Frederik of Denmark, Danish NOC president Niels Nygaard and the country’s minister of cultural affairs Marianne Jelved were among the dignatories at the meeting.

Despite Bach’s support for a Copenhagen bid, Nygaard told ATR that Denmark was some years away from being in a position to bid for the Olympics.

"We are discussing it but for the time being not seriously considering to bid because we have a number of other big projects," he told ATR Friday, adding that Copenhagen’s sports facilities would require a major facelift in order to stage the Games.

"The gap right now is too big," he said.

Speaking about Agenda 2020, which offers cities more flexibility and aims to minimize costs at the bidding stage, Nygaard said, "We are very encouraged by that, not only for Denmark but generally moving forward with Agenda 2020.

"With those ideas and the content of Agenda 2020, we are closer to considering a bid than we were before."

But he admitted that 2028 was off the radar. Bringing the Summer Olympics to Denmark was more a "long-term dream."

"Of course, we will see what happens in the next two, three or four years and take it from there," he added.

In comments related to concerns over human rights violations in 2022 bidding cities, Almaty and Beijing, Bach told the congress that "choosing a host city does not mean that the IOC necessarily agrees with the political or the legal system in the host country.

"It means however that in every country where we organize Olympic Games, we want to send the strong message of tolerance, respect and fair play as well as the compliance with all the values of the Olympic Charter for all participants at the Olympic Games," he added.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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