Now that the 13-member International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission has completed its four-day inspection tour of Madrid 2012 the group is taking a week off until it visits London February 16-19.
Evaluation Commission chairperson Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco said following Madrid’s inspection, “at this stage we can’t give any details or give any further comment”. She told the Associated Press that they could not divulge any information before the panel presents its report on each of the five candidate cites. Even then, she added, the panel’s role would be strictly one of “technical analysis”.
The chairperson said the evaluation commission does not make a decision. It gives no ranking or scores.
On Sunday, the last day of the visit, the first presentation, postponed from last Friday, was on the Paralympic Games. The Madrid 2012 Paralympics will be the first ones in the history to concentrate all the sport facilities in a radius of only five kilometres. Representatives of the Paralympics emphasized that the two “strongest points” of the bid are the concentration of the venues and the unanimous support of the institutions.
There were also presentations on the media, customs and immigration formalities, medical services, technology and Olympism and culture.
El Moutawakel said, “we have had detailed discussions with Madrid, we have seen all the competition venues and the visits have been very productive. We thank the bid team for their hard work and they can (be) very happy with the professionalism with which they have managed the process”. She added that Madrid must be congratulated on the quality of the project and the whole manner in which (the visit) has been handled, agreeing that Madrid had a compact bid – one of the bid’s strong points.
The chairperson added that she had been happy with polls suggesting 91 per cent of Spaniards were in favour of the bid. She said, “we were very happy to see there is very strong support from the government, from the population, and this is something the IOC really appreciates”.
She said the panel had noted Spain’s efforts to stage international tournaments in recent years and the progress of sports in the country.
There were about 40 protesters demonstrating with whistles and banners outside the hotel where the inspectors were staying. The Evaluation Commission did not meet with any of the groups protesting.
Madrid 2012 says its planned Olympic stadium and other venues will be in walking distance from the Olympic Village and about 10 minutes away from both the airport and the city centre. Bid officials believe they convinced the IOC panel that 70 per cent of the facilities were already built or in the works and 90 per cent of the facilities will be finished by 2008.
