Madrid’s Mayor Alberto-Ruiz Gallardon welcomed the members of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Evaluation Commission to the city Monday, and asked IOC officials for the opportunity to make the Olympic vocation into a social model. He said, “we will not let you down”.
Ruiz-Gallardon said, “we can offer a Games not just brilliant and efficient, but close together and with soul”. He also guaranteed the whole city as a compact model regarding competition zones that would “be so integrated as to feel like a great Olympic Village in itself”.
The venues where the competitions would be held are organized geographically so they are easily accessible for athletes as well as spectators. They will be situated in two parts of the city – one in the east in the “Heart of the Games”, and another in the west, in the “Lungs of the Games”, said a Madrid press release. Each of the two zones will have two cores in the east, one in the Olympic Walk and the other in IFEMA. In the west the first one would be in Casa de Campo and the second in the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
In his welcoming address Ruiz-Gallardon talked about the Olympic values, which he said are so essential at this time of uncertainty. He said, “we are looking to achieve a Games on a human scale, the Games with the human touch, because we believe in a world where people can become masters of their own destiny”.
He added, “In Madrid we love sport, but we love the Olympics more because it constitutes the union between peoples and their contribution to a better world – more pacific, reasonable and sustainable”.
He promised that “if you place your trust in us, that vision will last the whole century, leaving a legacy of sensitivity, progress and solidarity that, like the Olympic torch, will not go out”.
The delegation will visit the existing and planned sites for Olympic venues during their five-day stay in Madrid.
