Madrid 2016 speaking to representatives of the American Olympic Committees at the General Assembly of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) said its bid was “the ideal combination of vitality and reliability”.
The Madrid 2016 bid team included Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon and Madrid 2016 CEO Mercedes Coghen, as well as Spanish Olympic Committee President Alejandro Blanco and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.
Ruiz-Gallardon said, “Madrid 2016 is a great project, highly reliable because most of the work has already been done, built and in use. Seventy per cent of our sports infrastructure is used daily by tens of thousands of Madrid citizens”.
He added the only thing Madrid needed was “the material development which the opportunity of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016 would bring, transforming the city into a model space for living together, and an urban environment which would serve as a reference point for the future”.
The Mayor talked about the major institutional support it is getting from all corners, headed by the Royal Family, including Spanish companies and businessmen. Ninety three per cent of Spaniards have declared their support for the bid.
The Associated Press reports International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge said Saturday that cities trying to host the 2016 Games must above all have the support of their people.
Coghen explained the bid’s “Games with a Human Touch” defining concept. She said, “Madrid is a way of being and feeling, it is a mood, where to live and to share are inseparable terms. Madrid will do its best to enjoy the Games and make them enjoyable, in streets and venues alike. If you choose Madrid as host city, you not only choose a dynamic and booming city, but a way of enjoying life”.
She said the Madrid Games would be the “Games with a Human Touch” because they are assured of “a respecting environment with tolerance and understanding” taking the iconic Olympic Village as “an emblem, a model of living together built upon sporting values”.
Coghen also explained the “Generation 16” project, which has been developed to focus on “educational citizenship where sport is key in the fight against obesity, sedentariness in the young and the isolation of elders”.
