Just days before the May 18 announcement as to which of the nine cities bidding for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games will make the short list Russia’s top sports and city government officials expressed confidence that Moscow would get support from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Leonid Tyagachev, president of Russia’s Olympic Committee, told Business Day he had no doubts that Moscow was one of the front runners.
He said, “I think that Moscow is one of the favourites in the race to host the Olympics. Moscow has experience of hosting high-level events, and that will definitely boost the city’s chances”.
Valery Shantsev, Moscow’s deputy mayor and the head of Moscow 2012, said he believed the IOC’s decision to choose Moscow as host would boost the development of democracy in Russia. He said, if the IOC will choose Moscow as a host city for the 2012 Olympics, it will become a historic choice not only for Russia’s capital but for the entire world’.
Vitaly Smimov of Russia, vice president of the IOC, said he was sure that Moscow had a strong chance of remaining on the short list of candidate cities. “Russia’s capital has all the necessary infrastructure and experience to host the 2012 Olympics”, he said.
