Sean
WallaceJones and Laura Arcoleo for the
IAAF
11 January
2002 - Monte Carlo -
With eight potential candidate cities
from six countries preparing to step
into the starting blocks for a sprint
that will end at the IAAF Council
Meeting on April 14 in Nairobi, Monte
Carlo was today the stage for the
countdown towards the race to host the
2005 IAAF World Championships in
Athletics.
In the meeting held today, the eight potential candidates were able to hear presentations from experts from the IAAF and IAAF Marketing partner Dentsu on the detailed technical and organisational standards expected for a successful bid. From their side, all of the candidates were extremely positive regarding the potential of their cities to host a successful edition of what is largely regarded as the third largest event in the international sporting calendar and, for many, as an essential part of a successful subsequent bid to host the Olympics.
Here are the candidates’ thoughts on why their city’s bid should attract the selectors’ attention.
In alphabetical order:
Berlin:
Michael John – Head of
the delegation and organiser of ISTAF
“The very strongest point of our bid is, of course, the Olympic Stadium. This historical edifice is being completely renovated and that process will be completed in 2004, giving us a state of the art facility that still conserves the historical façade that was home to the 1936 Olympic Games.
The renovated stadium will have superb facilities, with all of the previously existing warm-up facilities, plus a new indoor warm-up and training area, weights rooms, etc. In addition there will be great underground parking facilities and excellent security.
For many cities, the World Championships is a lead-up to an Olympic bid, for Berlin this is not the case, in fact quite the opposite. The city of Berlin has decided definitely not to attempt a bid for the 2012 Games and we will be putting all of our efforts – political, financial and organisational into making a successful World Championships which will be the first great international event to be held in Berlin since the city once again became the capital of the united Germany. We want to put on an event that will really showcase Berlin and Germany. We have a great base of athletics enthusiasts in Germany and a strong network of clubs and will make strong promotion to ensure that there are good crowds throughout the Championships.
Now we must determine which of the three German cities (Stuttgart and Munich are also candidates and only one city can remain in the bidding) will stay in the bidding process.”
Brussels
Philippe Housiaux –
President Belgian Athletics Federation
“We believe that Brussels can offer a number of major advantages as host to the World Championships and perhaps the greatest of these is our experience.
Over the years Belgium has successfully hosted a number of major sporting events, and most recently there have been the 2000 European Championships and the World Cross Country Championships in Ostend in 2001. I believe that the latter is really proof that we are able to work extremely efficiently and effectively, even at very short notice (Ostend took over the World Cross Country Championships at 3 weeks notice after Dublin was forced to withdraw due to the foot and mouth epidemic). Brussels was also the European Culture capital for 2000.
We have a great stadium, which is an ideal size for athletics (45,000) and have shown with 25 successful years of the Ivo Van Damme Memorial that we have an enthusiastic and knowledgeable public for athletics,
I think that the biggest challenge that we will face is the short delay we have to present the final bidding documents (they have to be provided to the IAAF before the end of February).
The only facility currently lacking is the warm-up stadium, but this is something that is already at the planning stage by the City of Brussels and this will be brought forward – it was originally intended for construction by 2006 – if we are successful with our bid.
Brussels also has the great advantage of being at the centre of a massive cachment area with 120 million people less than a couple of hours driving distance from the City.
Finally, we have great potential for making an excellent TV production with two very good broadcasters in Belgium, one French and the other Flemish.
We would plan to create a strong cultural programme to also coincide with the Championships.”
Budapest
Peter Szalay
Vice-President of the Hungarian
Athletics Association
“We are very happy to have been given the chance to attend this meeting. It is good to know exactly what the IAAF expects from us even if sometime so many details were not necessary in my opinion. We all come from expert cities and are all very knowledgeable of athletics.
Budapest has four main strengths for which it deserves the Championships. First of all, experience. We have already successfully organized European Indoor Championships, European Outdoor Championships and last year’s World Youth Championships. The same knowledgeable team will be working for the 2005 World Championships.
Second, Budapest is also a candidate for the 2012 Olympic Games and therefore the Government and the City have decided to invest massively in sport. We have all their support and three members of our ministry are here today to prove it.
Also, if we win, we promise either to build a new stadium in the same location of the actual one or to renovate the existing one totally.
And last but not least, we have the best indoor arena which will be the venue of the 2004 World Indoor Championships and which will serve as a fantastic training venue for the athletes.”
Helsinki
Mikko Vanni - President
bidding committee
“If the IAAF chooses our bid to stage the 2005 World Championships then we can say that they made a safe choice. Helsinki has a great sporting tradition and athletics is queen in our country. Our culture is excellent and the people will love it.
Furthermore, if the World Championships come to Finland, you can be sure that the Stadium will always be packed. That is security number one.
In another department, Helsinki will offer to the participating athletes almost perfect weather conditions. There is no risk – or almost none – that days will be over heated and therefore performances are likely to be excellent.
Another strength is that Finland is a very safe and pleasant country.
Finally I would like to add a very important factor, which concerns technology. Finland is the most advanced country in IT – in telecommunications for example – and this will certainly be one of our main strengths in developing a good network for the Championships.”
Moscow
Vadim Zelichenok –
Vice-President Russian Federation
”Moscow has a strong
tradition in the organization of major
sporting events, from the Olympics,
through the Goodwill Games to the IAAF
Grand Prix Final and the World Youth
Games in 1998.
We have good stadium facilities and also good spectators.
For the World Youth Games – and remember these were really youngsters competing – we averaged 48,000 spectators a day, with a peak of 83,000.
There is very strong support for this bid from the Mayor of Moscow, Yuriy Luzkhov and there will be strong support from the government as a whole, let by President Putin. There have been many positive changes in Moscow in the past couple of years and we feel that we can offer an excellent home to the World Championships.”
Munich
Arno Hartung – Bid committee member,
press chief
“Our main concern today is marketing. We are currently waiting response from several potential marketing partners and if we are successful in that we will present an excellent bid. If not, we’ll have to address the Government and this will be a different story.
Because we are three different German candidates, we first have to deal with the National competition…Our main strength nevertheless will be the Olympia Park. We are lucky enough to be the only bidders able to offer such a great venue with such great facilities.
For example we will be the only ones to have such magnificent hospitality simply because we are the only ones to have a Park surrounding the stadium. Also another key point of our presentation will be the fact that we are hosting the European Championships this summer.
If we are to be awarded the 2005 World Championships we would simply carry on the same promotional and executive plan. We wouldn’t stop. Once the European Championships are finished, we’ll start right away. We will employ the same key people, some very experienced athletics experts and also some new staff in order to introduce new innovative ideas in our programme.”
Rome
Gianni Gola – President
Italian Athletics Federation
“It is the wish of the City of Rome and of Italy to invest in sport and the future of sport in our country and we feel that the best way to do this will be to host the 2012 Olympics. That is the basis behind our bidding for the World Championships in 2005.
The strong point of our bid is, of course, Rome itself. The city offers a great cultural experience and a long sporting tradition and we have an Olympic stadium that offers good facilities for the athletes and also for the media.
In addition, our bid has the backing and support of CONI - the Italian Olympic Committee who have said that they will participate in the renovation of parts of the stadium, such as the sound system, which need some attention.
We will of course face the same problem as the other candidates – and more than some, because we have an 80,000 seat stadium - and that is ensuring the maximum number of spectators in the stadium. For this, I have been holding discussions with the organizers of Edmonton, who had a very successful promotional programme, but who also said that they would have done more to bring in international spectators if they could do things over again. So we will include a relatively large figure in our budget to promote the Championships in Rome and also throughout Italy and internationally. We will also be selective on the dates for the Championships to try to ensure a maximum of local participation.
Stuttgart
Rolf Schneider –
Representing city of Stuttgart
“Our strategy is not defined yet. We want to take the most out of this meeting with the IAAF and then we will start thinking about a plan to adopt. We simply want to show the IAAF and the world that we are able to host such a big and important sporting event.
We have the facilities and we have the experience. We will look back at what we did in 1993 and try and improve on that.
We also want to use that experience not to make the same mistakes. We will have a permanent staff of 15 to 20 people working on this bidding presentation and we are confident that our people will do a great job.”