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• Please note, bids highlighted are those being considered favourites

Wendesday, 29 August 2012
USOC Panel To Study An Olympic Bid


THE U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has appointed a five-member panel to decide whether it should bid for a future Olympic Games. The announcement was made Tuesday.
Members of the panel are International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Anita DeFrantz, USA Hockey executive Dave Ogrean, Angela Ruggiero, Mike Plant and Susanne Lyons.

The group is to report to the entire USOC board at its quarterly meeting in December. Under consideration are the 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

The United States hasn't hosted an Olympics since the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. The last U.S. Summer Olympics was in 1996 in Atlanta.

Wendesday, 29 August 2012
Raila defends Kenya's London show and roots for Olympic bid

PRIME Minister Raila Odinga has defended Kenya’s performance at the London Games and drummed up support for a Kenyan bid for the 2024 Olympics.

Speaking during the Prime Minister’s time in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, Odinga said time was ripe for a Kenyan Olympic bid to spur development such as that witnessed by previous hosts of the world’s biggest sporting showcase.

The Prime Minister was under pressure from Members of Parliament to explain what was considered as a below par performance, by Kenya’s high standards, that saw the country bag just two gold medals, four silver and five bronze.

At the last Olympic Games in Beijing four years ago, Kenya won a record six gold, four silver and four bronze medals that included Kenya’s first Olympic women’s gold medals by Pamela Jelimo and Nancy Jebet Lagat in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres respectively.

“Our performance in London was better than our performance in Munich in 1972, better than Los Angeles in 1984, Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996, Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004,” the Prime Minister said.

He, however, noted that all was not well with the team’s preparations for the London Games.

“It is unfortunate that there were attempts to politicise the composition of the team, problems of accreditation, the decision by some athletes to boycott residential training, some disagreement by some officials over the training camps while in the UK.

“And differences over travel dates, uncoordinated distribution of kit, and the pre-competition injuries sustained by some athletes undermined our participation,” Odinga said.

He said the government and the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) were working together to improve of Kenya’s training and team management.

“Other areas of review include how officials are appointed, how to improve the level of co-operation between federations and the National Olympic Committee and how to limit the influence of managers and spouses of athletes during Olympic Games.

The Prime Minister, along with Sports Minister Paul Otuoma, noted that reports are still awaited from investigations over the London performance ordered by President Kibaki and Kenya’s chaotic participation at last year’s All Africa Games in Maputo, the latter being handled by a Parliamentary committee.

The Prime Minister added that his interest in Kenya bidding to host the 2024 Olympics was informed by the success stories of previous hosts such as Mexico, who hosted the 1968 Games.

[Shuz] wrote:I reckon it will be Istanbul 2020, followed by Toronto 2024.

Wendesday, 5 December 2012
Dubai Will Bid For 2024 Summer Games

THE National reports that Dubai will bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games as soon as an expected go-ahead from the government comes through, Abdulrahman Falaknaz, the NOC finance director, said Tuesday.

He said, "our bidding has started already. The UAE has the infrastructure, capability, manpower and know-how to host such events. There is pressure on cities when they host huge events like the Olympics, but Dubai and the UAE can take it.

"We have staged events before - the International Monetary Fund annual meeting in 2003, which everyone thought was fantastic. We have the World Youth Cup in (the UAE in 2003) and recently the F1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, one of the best in the world. I can assure you that our bid will be a comprehensive and winning bid".

Yousuf Yaqoob Alserkal, vice president and chairman of the United Arab Emirate's National Olympic Committee (NOC), said at the sidelines of the Emerging Host Cities conference, a two-day forum on hosting major sporting events which started Tuesday, that the Dubai committee, which was formed in 2008 to work out Olympic bidding procedures was still in place and he confirmed that the sheikhdom will effectively submit a bid for 2024, reports Xinhua.

Dubai has all sorts of required infrastructure for athletic sports, swimming, football, tennis or basketball, said Alserkal, "so we think in general we would be ready to host a multi-sports events".

Falaknaz said that representatives from Dubai have been consulting senior figures from past host cities of the biggest event in sports. He said, "we have been talking to Olympic cities like Sydney, Beijing and London, which we had a very close relationships with. Everybody has to learn all the time, and we are learning".

When asked what Dubai still needs to do, Falaknaz said, "to bid is one thing, to be successful another, and then to run the event another. We need to work on hotel accommodation and roads. We have already opened the Metro here and that will link up with Abu Dhabi".

Eighteen cities are thought to be preparing a bid for the 2024 Games, and bidding will begin in 2015, with the winner announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2017.

Monday, 10 December 2012
Rome Will Bid For 2024 Summer Olympic Games

ROME'S mayor Gianni Alemanno said Sunday that Rome is preparing a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. The city dropped its bid in February for the 2020 Summer Games a day before the deadline for submission to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after it failed to secure the support of the Italian government.

Alemanno said, "we have to be ready in 2017 to again present a bid for the Olympics".

He told the opening session of the European Olympic Committees general assembly Friday in Rome, "this is a city with an Olympic tradition", referring to Rome's hosting the 1960 Olympics. "We presented our candidature for 2020, but due to political reasons, wrongly in my opinion, decided to withdraw. We will persevere and try again in 2024 as we are a very proud city and believe in this event".