The four cities vying to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024 arrived in Madrid Wednesday to begin a planned two-day workshop with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the headquarters of the Olympic Broadcasting Services.
Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome have been attending a series of workshops as part of the IOC’s revamped bid process that promotes increased interaction and collaboration between the cities and the Olympic officials. In November a similar meeting was held to discuss elements included in phase 1 of the bid documents including vision, games concept and strategy.
The agenda this week included the discussion of technical solutions for the International Broadcast Centre, Main Press Centre and Athlete and Media Villages. Led by IOC Associate Director of Olympic Candidatures Jacqueline Barrett the workshop included a question and answer session with a panel of experts.
Representing Budapest is Sándor Finta who will focus on the overall concept of Budapest 2024 including the development plan overview; Beatrix Frankfurt specializing in venues and transport and Zsombor Barta with experise in sustainability and legacy. They will be joined by experts consultants of the bid.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the L.A. contingent was led by Bid Chief Gene Sykes accompanied by USOC Chief External Affairs Officer Patrick Sandusky, Chief Bid Officer Danny Koblin, Associate Director of Athlete Relations Tamara Christopherson, Bill Hanway of the L.A.-based engineering firm AECOM and Sport Director Doug Arnot.
Balázs Fürjes, Chairman of Budapest 2024 said in a statement Thursday “Budapest 2024 is maturing into a strong contender.”
“We are confident about how we are progressing, especially in respect of our sustainability plans, which are already well developed. Nevertheless, this is a fantastic opportunity for us to glean crucial insights from a highly qualified technical team; these insights will enable us to really tighten up and hone our proposal to provide the best possible facilities for Broadcast, Media and Athletes and the best possible inheritance for the people of Budapest.
“Our delegation will be maximizing this dialogue with the IOC.”
Further workshops will be held in June to review evaluations of phase 1 submissions that were received by the IOC February 16. At that time the IOC Executive Board will confirm which candidatures are approved to move on to phase 2.
Phase 2 documents are due into the IOC October 7 and will cover the topics including governance, legal and venue funding. The phase 3 deadline is February 3, 2017 and will include topics around Games delivery, experience and venue legacy.
The winner will be declared in September 2017 after an IOC Session vote in Lima, Peru.
