Rome 2024 War of Words Rages On

(ATR) Rome’s contentious bid to host the 2024 Summer Games continues to divide Italian government and sport leaders.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi and Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) chief Giovanni Malago are trading barbs while the bid is in limbo following its suspension by CONI on Oct. 11.

On Wednesday, Renzi told reporters that CONI could have moved forward with the bid despite the lack of support by Raggi.

"We would have gone ahead even without the city, but we preferred to avoid another international embarrassment," said Renzi, adding that he’d be willing to meet with her although she’s unlikely to change her mind.

Renzi also gave a sarcastic reply to Raggi’s request that the money that was to be delivered to Rome if the bid was successful would be transferred to the city even though she brought about the bid’s downfall.

"Raggi wants the money that would have been allocated to Rome for the Olympics?" he said. "What an interesting, intriguing hypothesis. I will forward it to [IOC president Thomas] Bach. Why not - when I get the email I'll just press 'forward'."

However, Raggi says her request was backed by precedent. At a Senate hearing on Sep. 27, the mayor asked the national government to sign a pact that would deliver the money to Rome as it did when Milan bid for the 2000 Olympics.

"There was a pact for Milan, so I don't see why the government can't sign a pact for Rome, using the economies deriving from the decision not to bid for the Olympic Games," Raggi told lawmakers. "The government would have allocated the money anyway if the bid were successful."

Raggi then took to Facebook to exalt what she had done for her city by not supporting the bid. She wrote that she and her supporters had saved the "children from the burden of further debt, which an irresponsible political class intended to heap on them in order to host the 2024 Olympics".

She lambasted Renzi and Malagò for "going on and on about the Games in order to distract attention from citizens' real problems".

Hope for 2028 Italian Bid

While it seems Rome is unlikely to rejoin the race for the 2024 Olympics, Milan’s Mayor Giuseppe Sala is leaving the door open for a northern Italian bid for the 2028 Summer Games.

Sala told The Journal that a bid would depend on the results of the 2024 race that will be decided by the IOC in September 2017. He says if Los Angeles beats out Budapest and Paris to host the Games then a Milan 2028 bid could be plausible.

"Then CONI would think to nominate Milan 2028," Sala says. "In fact, I say that it would be very fair to do so, provided that the Olympics provided an opportunity to invest in sports and developments in the city."

Written by Kevin Nutley

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