Daniel L. Doctoroff, deputy mayor of New York, in Beijing to attend the Athens Games debriefing said New York is a “unique” city and shares the same values of the Olympic Movement. “We recognize that we are competing with four other great cities but we think New York is unique.
He added, “New York is a special place. It might be the best place for people from around the world to come and achieve their goals. The competition is fair. That’s what the Olympic Games are about, and that’s what New York is about”.
Doctoroff said the debriefing was helpful to New York’s 2012 bid. “The IOC has done a wonderful job, allowing future host cities to learn from previous experiences. There’s no way to learn better than observing another city that has done successfully”, he said.
Doctoroff said he believed the interval between the United States hosting the 1996 Games (in Atlanta) and the 2012 Games should not be an obstacle because New York is different from Atlanta in many aspects. “First of all, it’s been 16 years from 1996 when Atlanta hosted the Olympics, to 2012 when we hope to host the Games. That’s a fairly long period of time. America is a very big country, and there’s big distances between Atlanta and New York”.
According to Doctoroff New York’s bid also enjoys the support of most of its citizens. He said, “consistently, three out of four or four out of five New Yorkers have been in favour of hosting the Olympic Games. New Yorkers see in the Olympic Games a reflection of New York. They see the very same things played out over those 17 days occurring everyday in New York”.
