Buenos Aires 7 – Madrid 2020
On September 7, the IOC will meet in Buenos Aires to decide which city from Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid will have the honor of hosting the 2020 Olympic Games.
The three cities have been declared apt to stage the Games by the IOC Evaluation Commission, which, as well as subjecting the Candidature File put together by each candidate city to painstaking analysis, then went on to carry out an on-site assessment of each potential venue in order to check that they are well placed to satisfactorily host an Olympic event.
While all three would no doubt be magnificent host cities, as in any competition, such as the process to choose the venue for the Games, only one can claim first place.
Are any of these cities currently sitting in pole position? The most honest answer would in all likelihood be that it is anyone’s guess. Each candidate has its strengths and weaknesses, uppermost in everyone’s minds, which will one way or another sway the IOC members casting their votes in Buenos Aires.
The Madrid Candidature, in which we have been honored to play our part, has worked long and hard over the course of more than two years, taking on not only a severely tightened budget, in line with the country’s current economic situation, but also the stigma of whether, having fallen at the final hurdle in its last two attempts, it made sense to persevere, precisely because of the financial backdrop.
Those tasked with presenting the Candidature have taken great pains to demonstrate that Madrid’s bid is economically viable, and that emerging victorious would give a major economic boost not only to the city, but Spain as a whole.
We can only concur, and the lift in morale that would come in the wake of Madrid’s designation as the host city would be no less significant.
The work performed on the Madrid 2020 bid has been second to none and has left the candidature ideally placed with the finish line in sight.
All that now remains is to wish the Madrid 2020 all the luck in the world and to hope that the outcome in Buenos Aires on the 7th is the one we all long for (Buenos Aires 7: Madrid 2020).
Antonio Garrigues and the Sports & Entertainment Department
