Olympic bid to be decided in April
Rome, Venice both solid candidates says Petrucci
15 December, 18:29
(ANSA) - Rome, December 15 - The Italian Olympic
Committee
(CONI) will decide in April whether Rome or Venice will be
Italy's candidate for the 2010 Olympic Games, CONI chief Gianni
Petrucci said Tuesday.The cities have until the end of February to present their bids, after which it will take CONI "at least until the end of April" to vet them and make a final choice, he said.
"Whether it's Rome or Venice, we want to win," Petrucci said.
"Rome and Venice are cities with a noteworthy global allure," Petrucci said, adding that a bid by either city was "objectively" credible because of their sports facilities.
In October CONI ruled out bids by two other Italian cities, Palermo and Bari, saying they did not meet the "minimum" requirements. ''Rome and Venice are the only serious bidders, all the rest is just so much talk,'' Petrucci said at the time.
Rome's conservative mayor, Gianni Alemanno, recently said one of his centre-left predecessors, Francesco Rutelli, had come on board to help the Italian capital's bid.
Alemanno, a member of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, said Rutelli, who ran Rome from 1993 to 2001, could bring ''priceless experience'' to the effort since he had led Rome's bid in the late '90s for the 2004 Olympics.
On that occasion, Rome was narrowly beaten by Athens.
Rome and Venice immediately come forward after the 2016 Games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro on October 2, saying they would like to host the following edition.
Bari and Palermo then expressed the same ambition, along with Milan, which however almost immediately withdrew its bid.
According to IOC Vice President Mario Pescante, any Italian bidder is ''not favourite'' in a race which could feature Brisbane, Prague, Copenhagen, Budapest, Delhi, Mumbai, Mexico City, Auckland, Warsaw, Cape Town, St Petersburg, Taipei, Detroit, Philadelphia and Saint Paul/Minneapolis.
Bids must be presented by the end of 2011 and the winner will be announced in 2013.
Rome hosted the Games in 1960 while Venice has never staged a major international sporting event.
photo: Petrucci
