Melbourne Urged to Make Olympics Bid

(ATR)Melbourne should act now on its aspirations to bid for the 2032 Olympics now says a representative from the Committee for Melbourne.

Kate Roffey said Melbourne is an ideal candidate for the Games.

"We have so much of the infrastructure in terms of the facilities here already," Roffey said.

"More importantly we have the appetite for it," she added. "We are one of the few cities in the world where as soon as you mention it people in Melbourne go, 'yes, of course we should'.

"Everybody else says it is a waste of money and we shouldn't be doing it.

"We could do it and we want to do it."

Melbourne may have competition from Brisbane. The Queensland capital is studying a bid for 2028.

Next month, IOC president Thomas Bach and the Australian Olympic Committee hope to secure the backing of Australia's federal government for a future Olympic bid.

Bach is meeting with Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott on April 29.

John Coates, AOC president and IOC vice president,toldThe Australianthat there was never a hidden agenda behind next month's meeting.

Bach using his meeting with Abbott to discuss a Games bid isinevitable, Coates added.

The 1956 Melbourne Olympics ran from Nov. 22-Dec. 8 and the city suggested a similar timetable in its failed bid for the 1996 Games.

A recent IOC decision could pose problems for a Melbourne bid--the IOC has ruled that no Olympics be staged beyond August.

However Nick Green, president of the Victorian Olympic Council, says another IOC policy could improve Melbourne's chances.

The policy Green is considering says the "organization of entire sports or disciplines outside the host city or, in exceptional cases, outside the host country notably for reasons of geography and sustainability."

Green askedThe Australian,"If entire sports or disciplines can be staged outside the host city, why not have a bid from Australia, rather than just Brisbane or Melbourne?

"Why couldn't the indoor sports be staged in Melbourne, the outdoor sports in Brisbane?"

Brisbane unsuccessfully bid to host the 1992 Summer Olympics with a proposal to stage the Games that year July-August.

Written byNicole Bennett

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