PARIS: The Istanbul bid for the 2020 Olympic Games has achieved a dream held by the Sultans who used to rule Turkey in bringing both the continents the city straddles together as one, their bid chief told AFP on Monday.

Hasan Arat, who spoke to AFP by phone from Lausanne after Istanbul had handed over their candidature file to the International Olympic Committee, said with Istanbul’s first underground tube train line to be opened on October 29th this year the bid had succeeded in bringing Asia and Europe together.

The tube will re-inforce the ties between the two sides of the city which have been connected by the Bosphorous Bridge which opened in 1973 and then a second one in 1988.

European Turkey makes up just 3% of the country’s territory.

“The dreams of the Sultans for hundreds of years has come true,” said Arat, a successful businessman in his own right after a career as a professional basketball player.

“Asia linked to Europe and Europe linked to Asia.”

Arat, who in 1996 was named businessman of the year by ‘The Economist’ magazine, said that the underground network would help to alleviate one of Istanbul’s major problems — moving around a city renowned for its traffic snarl-ups, an issue which could cause problems with IOC members when they vote in Buenos Aires on September 7.

However, Arat, who was accompanied among others by the two-term Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbas to Lausanne, said that the national government had budgeted for that in the dossier in terms of investment.

“We already have a budget in place for the next 10 years regarding transport,” he said.

“$1.2 billion US has been set aside for improving the road infrastructure and that is not just for the bid’s benefit but also for the citizens of Istanbul.

“We are promising 20 minutes transport between the village and the venues. It will be the first compact intercontinental Games. You will be able in 2020 to watch the beach volley ball in Asia in the morning and in the afternoon watch the basketball in Europe.

“Every day of those Games the sun will shine on both Europe and Asia.”

Arat, whose two children are both involved in sports with his 19-year-old daughter Zeynep a volleyball player and his 23-year-old son Ali a Turkish national waterpolo player, said that there was a significant difference from this bid to the previous four failed attempts.

“This one is totally different because for the first time it was launched by the Prime Minister (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) in 2011 and government support was re-inforced with the Mayor personally handing over the dossier today,” he said.

Arat, who said that part of the legacy the Games would leave would be a newly redeveloped area in the port on the Asian side of the Bosphorous, said that he nad his team had learnt two things from London’s sucessful hosting of the Games last year.

“London showed the world the brilliance of the redeveloped East London, which I would compare to what we are doing with the port development,” he said.

“Secondly it was the Paralympics which had an overwhelming impression. It was shown live here which has inspired a lot of disabled people here to go out and take up sports.

“It gives us great inspiration to do a lot for the Paralympics. I started wheelchair basketball at my club Besiktas 13 years ago and at the Paralympics last year our team beat the United States which has turned them into national heroes.”

Arat, whose team will have to see off Tokyo and Madrid to host the Games, said that there would be no let up in the race to the wire.

“I learnt from my days as a basketballer that when you are competing you need to play to the siren. The last three seconds in basketball are very important.

“We have to work very hard, meet all our obligations and then it will be up to the IOC members vote. “The next nine months will be our future.”

via Istanbul has achieved Sultans’ dream: bid chief – thenews.com.pk.

By Simon Hart, Athletics Correspondent

The formal handover of the ‘bid books’ marks the start of eight months of intensive lobbying, culminating in a secret ballot to elect the host city at the IOC’s session in Buenos Aires on Sept 7. A new president will be chosen at the same meeting to succeed the outgoing Jacques Rogge.

Tokyo, which was a candidate for the 2016 Games but was beaten in the final vote by Rio de Janeiro, is the bookmakers’ favourite after receiving the highest praise in a preliminary IOC technical report last year, though history shows that the early front-runner in an Olympic host-city campaign does not always land the big prize.

Beijing was a hot favourite to beat Sydney to the 2000 Olympics while Paris was odds on to defeat London in the battle for 2012.

The Japanese capital offers the IOC the safest option at the time of global economic turbulence since most of its venues are already built, though Istanbul’s unique selling point as the first Olympic host city ever to straddle two continents could prove a compelling draw. The idea of uniting East and West chimes perfectly with traditional Olympic values.

Madrid is bidding for the Games for the third successive time but admiration for its persistence is unlikely to outweigh fears about the weakness of its economy with its property sector in meltdown and unemployment running as high as 25 per cent.

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Like Tokyo, it can at least claim to have most of its venues in place, and its bid team are likely to emphasise how hosting the Games would help stimulate the economy.

All three bid books, which run into hundred of pages setting out details of the cities’ budgets, financial and political guarantees, venues, security, accommodation and transportation, will be published today and will come under intense scrutiny when the cities play host to an IOC evaluation commission in March.

The commission, which is chaired by British IOC executive board member Sir Craig Reedie, will produce an evaluation report in June.

The three cities have already survived an initial cull after Baku and Doha were cut from the 2020 race by the IOC last May, while Rome withdrew its candidacy because of the serious economic problems in Italy.

The three candidates to host 2020 Olympic Games

TOKYO

Key selling point: The safest option for the IOC at a time of global economic uncertainty, with many venues already built to very high technical specifications.

Pros

Games would be symbol of regeneration following 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Asia’s ‘turn’ to host summer Games.

Preliminary technical report praised “very strong application”.

Cons

Struggled to win support of Japanese public when it bid for 2016 Games.

Delivered dreary presentation at final vote for 2016.

Would be second consecutive Games in Far East as South Korea is hosting 2018 Winter Olympics.

Odds 4-6 (William Hill)

——————————–

ISTANBUL

Key selling point: The city’s location straddling Europe and Asia would create a powerful ‘unifying’ message at one with the spirit of Olympism.

Pros

Opens new frontier for IOC as Turkey has never hosted the Olympics.

Boasts a relatively buoyant economy.

A strong supporter of Olympic movement with four previous bids.

Cons

High risk for IOC as many venues would have to be built from scratch.

Corruption fears after scandals involving bribery of public officials.

Shares border with Syria and currently sheltering refugees from civil war.

Odds 5-2

——————————–

MADRID

Key selling point: The Games would be shown as a powerful economic catalyst by stimulating growth and helping the country recover from the ravages of recession.

Pros

Reasonably low risk for IOC as most venues already built.

Existing infrastructure makes it the cheapest bid.

City has demonstrated commitment to Olympics with three successive bids.

Cons

Dire economic problems could affect delivery of Games.

Long period of recession could impact on ticket sales.

Too soon for Games to return to Europe after London 2012.

Odds 3-1

via Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul submit their bids to host 2020 Olympics Games – Telegraph.