Politicians Follow Public's Lead as Budapest's City Assembly Delivers Huge Boost to Hungarian Olympic Bid

Budapest City Assembly gives powerful backing to Budapest 2024’s Final Candidature Submission to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

Budapest, Hungary – January 26th 2017 – The Budapest City Assembly has given formal endorsement to the final candidature submission for the Budapest Bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Submission will now pass to the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, as the Bid progresses to the final stage of the race for the right to host the 2024 Games.

Balázs Fürjes, Chairman of Budapest 2024, said: "This was a magnificent endorsement of our plans to host the 2024 Games in Budapest." With only four votes registered against the proposition among the twenty-nine voting members of the Assembly, city leaders hailed the strong cross-party support for the city’s bid.

The Bid represents a major investment in the city’s infrastructure, and one that will have an impact far beyond the Games. István Tarlós, the Mayor of Budapest, said: "If Budapest wins the right to organise the 2024 Olympic Games, developments and investments can be realised in the next few years, rather than further in the future."

The Submission, approved today, sets out how the Venue and Master Plan for the Games would create a concentration of sporting events and venues that will deliver:

- A Games for a City: with an average 12-minute travel time for athletes, spectators and officials within Budapest

- A Games for a Nation: a unique plan that will engage seven cities meaning that 90% of the population will have access to a venue within 90 minutes’ travel time

- A Games for A Region: the Games will offer access to over 100 million people region-wide

Attila Mizsér, Olympic and world champion in modern pentathlon and the bid’s Director of Sport and Venues, said: "This vote shows that Hungary has both the vision and the resources to deliver an outstanding and affordable Olympic Games. The city of Budapest has extensive experience of hosting top-level sporting events, as our staging of this summer’s FINA World Championships proves. In voting for the bid to progress to the next level, we are investing in the multi-decade development of a dynamically evolving Budapest and Hungary."

The Games Master Plan goes hand in hand with the Budapest 2030 Urban Development plan, meaning that the Games can be the catalyst for the accelerated development of the city for the next generation.

Mr. Mizsér said: "[The IOC’s] Agenda 2020 was our guiding light. Our Plan is the blueprint for the growth of the city as a sporting capital and as a modern urban space for the people of Budapest."

Balázs Fürjes, Chairman of Budapest 2024, said: "The new Olympic agenda makes it possible for a new generation of mid-sized cities to host the Games. And this new generation of mid-sized cities will create new possibilities for the Olympic Movement. This vote further strengthens our bid and with overwhelming support from the government of Hungary it enables us to deliver a brilliant, beautiful Games in a city ready to deliver. Budapest is the right city at the right time."

Following the City Assembly approval of progression, the Budapest 2024 Bid Committee is due to submit its Candidature File to the International Olympic Committee in time for the February 3rd deadline.

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For more information, please contact Ivan.Rozsa@budapest2024.org

- This year’s Sportcal listings recognise Budapest as the rising star of major global sport events, ranking the city seventh among the top global sport cities and second in the Future Sports Cities Index 2017-2023. Named as European Capital of Sport 2019, Budapest is a high-value city, with an excellent transport infrastructure and a long-term sustainable development plan. The Budapest 2024 Olympic Bid proposes a compact and intimate Games footprint in the capital, and a truly nationwide Games that features sport in six other Olympic cities. Budapest 2024 is dedicated to deliver an on-budget and inclusive Olympic and Paralympic Games in one of the top 20 most peaceful countries in the world. Sports-mad Hungary was one of the founding members of the IOC and has participated in the Games since 1896. Hungary is the only country ranked in the top ten of the all-time Olympic Medal table that has not yet hosted the Olympic Games.

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