(ATR) Thomas Bach blames Boston bid leaders for the demise of the Olympic bid and called for the U.S. Olympic Committee to honor its commitment to deliver a 2024 candidate.
Bach didn’t pull any punches in his assessment of Boston’s exit from the bid race earlier this week at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur following a two-day IOC Executive Board meeting. The USOC pulled the plug on the embattled bid on Monday mainly over its public support problems.
"Quite simply Boston obviously did not deliver on promises made to the USOC when they were selected [in January]," Bach told reporters.
"Therefore we can understand the decision by the USOC and we are looking forward to an American bid from another city."
In a further jab at Boston’s disastrous bid, Bach admitted that "at some stage I gave up following because it was pretty confusing.
"Every day there was a new project coming from Boston, or new people and ideas. I really gave up following in detail."
USOC president and IOC member Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun are expected to arrive in the Malaysian capital in the next few hours to attend the IOC Session opening late Thursday.
Bach indicated that he expects them to deliver on their pledge to bring a 2024 candidate city to the bidding table by the IOC’s deadline for applicant cities.
"We had a commitment from the USOC for an Olympic candidature for 2024. And we are sure that the USOC will deliver on this commitment and that we will have on 15 September a bid from the United States," he told reporters.
When asked if the USOC had been in touch with the IOC since Boston’s departure from the bid race two days ago, the IOC president said: "It is now an internal issue for the USOC to determine the most appropriate city. It’s not up to the IOC to give unsolicited advice on this."
"The USA is one of the few countries which has the luxury of having a number of cities capable of hosting the Olympic Games," Bach added.
Los Angeles is considered the front runner of the three cities overlooked by the USOC in favor of Boston. The USOC will also review the proposals of San Francisco and Washington D.C and could talk with other cities.
Refusing to express a personal view about the merits of Los Angeles or any other city, Bach said: "I am sure the USOC will find the best solution."
On the public support issue which killed Boston 2024, Bach conceded that the bid opposition problems that plagued the east coast US city could potentially be repeated in LA or any other city chosen by the USOC.
"You cannot exclude any kind of discussion in any city of the world. This is a democracy," he said.
"We fully respect to make this discussion a little bit more oriented on facts than on emotions. This is one of the reasons why we are publishing the host city contract, why we have introduced this invitation phase… to show in a very transparent way what it means organizing Olympic Games. Which great advantages and legacies Olympic Games mean for an organizing city and country."
He added: "We are very happy with the discussions we had in this respect with the national Olympic committees from France, Germany, Hungary and Italy, who understand this very well, who communicated this very well and therefore enjoy good public support for their candidatures."
Reported in Kuala Lumpur by Mark Bisson
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Utah’s Olympic venues an integral part of the equation as Salt Lake City seeks a Winter Games encore
IOC president tells Olympic Movement “we will again have safe and secure Olympic Games” in Beijing
Boxing’s place in the Olympics remains in peril as IOC still unhappy with the state of AIBA’s reform efforts
IOC president details Olympic community efforts to get Afghans out of danger after Taliban return to power
North Korea suspended by IOC for failing to participate in Tokyo though its athletes could still take part in Beijing 2022
