Madrid mayor rules out another Olympic bid

After the disappointment of losing the Olympic Games for the third time the mayor of Madrid has advised against a fourth bid. Ana Botella, who has been mayor since 2011, has said that she thinks Madrid already has all the benefits it could gain from hosting the Games.

Botella’s unimpressive presentation of Madrid’s 2020 bid in Buenos Aires at the beginning of September against its rivals Istanbul and Tokyo is considered one of the reasons why the Spanish capital was eliminated in the first round of voting. Madrid also failed in its attempts to host the Olympics in 2012 and 2016.

It is thought that Madrid’s lack-lustre and tired presentation may have been one of the reasons for its third failure. However the choice of host city tends to move from continent to continent, which favoured Tokyo, the eventual winner. In 2012 the Olympics were held in Europe (London), and in 2016 they will be held in South America (Rio de Janeiro).

No sooner had Madrid been ruled out of the 2020 Games than Barcelona announced that it may put in a Pyrenees-Barcelona bid for the Winter Olympics in 2022. The Catalonian city successfully hosted the Summer Olympics in 1992.

The only firm candidate so far for the 2022 Winter Olympics is Almaty in Kazakhstan, with Munich still to decide. The deadline for the 2022 Winter Olympics bid is 15 November this year.

Botella’s performance in Madrid, in which she presented a stereotyped image of Spain in awkward English, may also have damaged her political chances of representing herself as the Popular Party’s candidate for mayor in 2015.