Rome 2024 Furious at Mayor Snub

(ATR) The Italian Olympic bid has delivered a stunning rebuke to Mayor Raggi for dumping the campaign and wiping out years of hard work.

A measure of Rome 2024’s disappointment was the strong 650-word statement that included the word "disappointed" a staggering 17 times.

Mayor Virginia Raggi on Wednesday missed a scheduled meeting with the bid team led by Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago before effectively ending the bid campaign at a press conference. She said it would be financially "irresponsible" to go ahead with the bid, which would leave the city in debt.

"Hearing 'no' hurts. I'm very sorry. It was possible to do this, and do it well. We will continue until I hear a formal no," Malago told media after the mayor’s snub.

Around the Rings is told that the formal end to the bid may come next Tuesday when the city council convenes. It is possible but unlikely that city assembly members, who last year unanimously backed the bid, rebel against Raggi and salvage the Olympic mission.

Rome 2024 expressed its fury at Raggi in the statement, giving 16 reasons as to why its bid officials were "disappointed". It said the Olympic project "has been swallowed up by fear".

Notable was the bid’s clear disdain for Raggi and her perceived failure to see the financial benefits of an Olympic bid to Rome, in upgrading its sports facilities and infrastructure.

"Disappointed that a new political force is unwilling to accept the challenge of modernization and take on the responsibility of change, legality and transparency, and that it did not want to take advantage of the opportunity to launch a significant project of urban redevelopment, as was the result of the 1960 Games in Rome," the bid release said.

"Disappointed that this same political force has transformed an extraordinary opportunity for youth and the city into an ideologically-, politically- and demagogically-based decision, and that rather than taking action, they have opted to do nothing," the bid added.

Rome 2024 suggested those citizens who had chosen change and backed the 5-Star were "now regretting it".

They were also angered that Raggi had not acknowledged the IOC’s Agenda 2020 reforms, which are aimed at reducing the cost of bidding and increasing flexibility in staging the Games.

"Disappointed that the rhetoric around wastefulness has won out over the new, important IOC regulations, created specifically to address waste and projects that are not beneficial for citizens and to involve other cities in the hosting of the Games," the bid statement added.

After Rome’s departure from the 2020 and 2024 bid race, immediate questions arise about Italy’s ability to deliver a successful Olympic bid. Last year, Hamburg’s exit in the 2024 race raised the same questions about Germany’s potential.

The Rome bid statement said its "great work" on the campaign had boosted the city’s image abroad. "That has now been scrapped, resulting in a severe blow to Italy’s credibility worldwide," it said.

It added: "Disappointed that a city like Rome is surrendering and that it is not being considered capable of competing, not even eight years from now when the 2024 Olympics would have taken place, presenting the international community with a poor reputation of the city."

The IOC has been quiet on the bitter acrimony surrounding the end of Rome’s bid.

It has not released a statement. Nor has the IOC responded to repeated inquiries from Around the Rings about what Rome’s departure means for Thomas Bach’s much-vaunted bidding reforms and the Olympic brand.

But already the repercussions of Rome’s demise are evident.

Brisbane City Council's Labor opposition leader has cited the financial reasons for Raggi pulling the plug on Rome to demand the Australian city drop its possible 2028 bid, saying the costs would outweigh the benefits.

The 2024 race is now down to just three bidders – Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris. The IOC will choose one of them in September 2017 – if they all reach the line.

Written by Mark Bisson

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