Madrid hopes for 2020 Olympics

Madrid lined up support for its 2020 Olympic bid with an evening of sporting events on 23 June against a background of continuing protests in Brazil about the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016.

The Spanish capital is bidding for the third time to host the Olympics, after losing in 2012 to London and in 2016 to Rio de Janeiro. For the 2020 Games Madrid is competing against Tokyo and Istanbul. The winner will be announced in Buenos Aires on 7 September.

According to the organising committee over 80 per cent of Madrid residents support the bid. On 23 June about 50,000 people came out to watch or to compete in events in key locations across the city.

The selling point for the Olympics in Madrid is that many of the sporting facilities are already in place therefore the costs will be contained.

The committee is marketing its offer as a “shoe-string” Olympics, pointing out that 28 of the 35 sporting venues are already built and that the overall cost is estimated at about €1.5 billion, well below the €9 billion of London’s 2012 Olympics.