Milan Jirasek, chairman of the Czech Olympic Committee, hopes that Prague, like Lillehammer, will beat the odds and host a summer Olympic Games, reports the Prague Post.
As reported last month, Jirasek and 15 city officials, national politicians and sports figures have formed a committee to explore whether Prague should bid for the 2016, 2020 or 2024 Summer Games.
No city as small as Prague has hosted a summer Games since Helsinki in 1952. Jirasek said, “if Prague won, it would definitely be a smaller Games, but sometimes smaller can be more beautiful”.
Gilbert Felli, executive director of the Olympic Games for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) says, “absorbing an extra 100,000 to 150,000 people can be difficult for a small city. You don’t feel it as much in a big city”.
IOC member Walther Troger from Germany says Prague has a “renowned sports background” and international recognition. He said, “small cities are disadvantaged because my colleagues know the big ones better. But Prague is well known. The IOC has met there twice since I’ve been a member. Besides, our president has said the Games should be scaled back. Picking Prague would be in line with that effort”.
Jirasek says Prague may want to build a 50,000-seat Olympic stadium with 30,000 temporary seats rather than a stadium the size of Athens (75,000 seats) or one in Sydney (110,000) which hosted the 2000 Games.
A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that the Czech government needs to spend about $24 billion to bid for the Games. About 19 billion would go to projects already begun or planned. New venues such as the Olympic Village and a new swimming centre would take up the rest of the expense.
The latest poll on an Olympic bid by the Median agency showed support for a bid at just 22 per cent, down from a previous poll by the DEMA agency in August 2004, which showed 60 per cent of Prague residents favoured a bid.
Marketa Reedova, a city assemblywoman said, “the public has no desire to host the Games. I have no idea where the money would come from. It would be a huge headache”.
A decision on a 2016 bid has to be made by 2007 when applications to the IOC are due.
