Reedie Heads 2020 Evaluation Commission; Switzerland 2022 Gets Government Support

(ATR) IOC vice president Craig Reedie must clear his calendar for March 2013 as he takes charge of the Evaluation Commission for the 2020 Olympics.

"I am honored to have been chosen as head of the 2020 Evaluation Commission," the Scot said Thursday in a statement from the IOC.

"I look forward to working with my fellow Commission members and the three candidate cities in the run-up to next September’s election."

Reedie’s role begins in earnest Jan. 7, the deadline for Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo to hand over their candidature files to IOC headquarters in Lausanne.

After weeks of analyzing these so-called bid books, the Commission then hits the road for a series of three four-day visits.The stops are scheduled around logistical considerations, according to the IOC, and will span less than a month for the first time in a while.

Tokyo opens the inspection tour from March 4 to 7, followed by Madrid from March 18 to 21 and Istanbul from March 24-27.

Reedie will be joined by IOC colleagues Guy Drut of France, Frank Fredericks of Namibia, Nat Indrapana of Thailand, Claudia Bokel of Germany (representing the Athletes’ Commission), Pat McQuaid of Ireland (representing the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations) and Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli of Switzerland as well as Eduardo Palomo of El Salvador (representing the Association of National Olympic Committees) and Andrew Parsons (representing the International Paralympic Committee).

IOC sports director Christophe Dubi, head of bid city relations Jacqueline Barrett and a number of advisors will travel with the Evaluation Commission on each of its visits.

"We’ve assembled a strong and highly knowledgeable group of individuals led by the experienced Sir Craig Reedie, who knows as well as anybody what it takes to host a sustainable, well-organized and ultimately successful Olympic Games," said IOC president Jacques Rogge.

Reedie, a board member of LOCOG, was also part of the Evaluation Commissions that chose Beijing for 2008 and Rio de Janeiro for 2016 as well as the Coordination Commission that helped deliver Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

Drut served alongside the Scot on the inspection team for 2016, while Fredericks pulled double duty on both commissions for London 2012.

Indrapana is part of the Coordination Commission overseeing Rio 2016, a reprisal of his roles on the Co-Comms for Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008.

And Palomo played a part on the technical panel that reviewed the application files from all five 2020 bids, cutting Baku and Doha from the field.

Now a report from Reedie’s nine-member Evaluation Commission is due prior to July 2013, when IOC members will gather in Lausanne at the beginning of the month for a technical briefing on the three bids.

A vote for the host city follows Sept. 7 at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires.

Government Support for Dual Swiss Bid

Switzerland’s government is pledging $31 million in support of a bid to host the Winter Olympics in Davos and St. Moritz.

The cabinet is also ready to invest $1.05 billion in funding the organization of the Games in the Alpine towns.

"The government is convinced the Games are a great opportunity to present a small country like Switzerland in a positive light," sport minister Ueli Maurer was quoted Wednesday by Swiss media.

The next milestone for the proposed bid is a vote next March when residents of the canton Graubünden in eastern Switzerland have their say on the bid.

Switzerland last staged the Winter Games in 1948 in St. Moritz. The country failed in its bid to organize the 2006 Games in Sion.

Media Watch

Glen Levy of TIME magazine examines the pros and cons of the three 2020 bids as well as the odds of each city getting the Games.

Written by Matthew Grayson and Mark Bisson

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