Birmingham’s bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games Wednesday added legendary long-distance athlete Brendan Foster to its team.
As Olympic bronze medalist and Commonwealth Champion in the 10,000 metre event at the Edmonton 1978 Games, Foster brings valuable insight from an elite athlete’s perspective. He also brings his sports business expertise from his mass-participation sports event company, Great Run.
Foster will be retiring from his role on the BBC Sport commentary team this month allowing him to devote further time to Birmingham’s efforts to land the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Foster said Wednesday “when Ian Ward invited me to join the Birmingham 2022 Bid team I was delighted to accept.
“Birmingham is an ambitious, vibrant city with a great sporting heritage and I believe the ideal location to host such a prestigious global event.”
“Our company has a strong relationship with Birmingham through organizing Great Run events in recent years and in October we’ll be staging the first marathon in the city for 28 years.”
Ian Ward, Chair of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Steering Group, said “we are thrilled that Brendan is joining our team to help secure the Commonwealth Games for Birmingham.
“His knowledge, both as a former athlete and as a business professional, will be a boost to our efforts. In recent years, with the Great Birmingham Run and the forthcoming Birmingham International Marathon in October, we have worked closely with Brendan and his team and have seen them deliver some outstanding events for the city.”
Birmingham’s bid leverages 95 percent available venues to host 20 events in 19 facilities.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) reopened the 2022 bid process earlier this year after Durban in South Africa was stripped of the Games when it failed to meet financial deadlines.
Birmingham is competing in Britain against Liverpool to host the Commonwealth Games in 2022, with both being considered favourites as they were already planning 2026 bids before the CGF were forced to find a replacement earlier this year. International bidders for the Games include Victoria, Canada and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Four cities have expressed interest in Australia, however with the 2018 Games being hosted in Gold Coast it is believed the 2022 edition will likely be sited in a different nation.
