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Austrian NOC Backs Mooted Vienna Olympic Bid Provided Necessary Infrastructure Improvements Are Made |
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Olympics - 13 Dec 2012 - Austria’s national Olympic committee will back a mooted bid by Vienna to host the Olympic Games in 2024 or 2028, but has warned that major infrastructure improvements would be required to enable the country’s capital city to do so.
Reacting to an announcement by Michael Haeupl, Vienna’s mayor, that he plans to hold a referendum in March next year on the potential candidacy, Karl Stoss, president of the Austrian Olympic Committee said: “This is news to us, but basically we support any sort of Olympic initiative, as long as it has a realistic chance of success and has the financial means for the candidacy and the necessary infrastructure requirements.”
Pointing to the success of this summer’s Olympic Games in London, Peter Mennel, the Olympic committee’s secretary general, said: “London 2012 was an impressive example of what effect the summer games can have.
“The necessary infrastructure work has a long-term effect on the development of grass roots and especially top-level sports because of the improved training options.”
Vienna’s existing venues, such as the Happel and Dusika Stadiums and the Wiener Stadthalle, would need to be altered and adapted, and other venues would need to be built to host an Olympic Games.
However, the proposed bid also received the backing of Norbert Darabos, the country’s sports minister, who said that he “fundamentally stands for a bid, because it would bring important structural benefits to sport.”
Bidding to host the 2024 Olympics will begin in 2015, with the winning city to be announced in 2017. Other cities that have expressed interest include: Paris; Dubai; Doha; Rome; Berlin or Hamburg in Germany; a US city; Toronto in Canada; Nairobi in Kenya; Melbourne in Australia; Baku in Azerbaijan; and a South African city.
Sportcal
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