London wins right to host 2012 Olympics
London succeeded in their bid to host the 2012 Olympics
in a vote-off by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
defeating arch-rivals Paris in a dramatic final vote.
The announcement was made by IOC chief Jacques Rogge.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge
Click to enlarge photo
London will become the first city in Olympic history to stage the games for
a third time after hosting them in 1908 and 1948.
In contrast, Paris has failed with three successive bids for the Games - 1992,
2008 and 2012.
Moscow was the first candidate to fall in the first round of voting which was
carried out by some 100 IOC members. New York and Madrid fell in the second
and third rounds.
The two favorites, Paris and London, were left in the final round to battle
it out for the supreme prize in sports and eventually London prevailed.
Beijing will host the 2008 Games.
19 months ago, nine cities, all offering multi-million dollar bids, started
the race for the 2012 Games
This was the biggest field of candidates for the Olympic Games since the 1997
vote for the 2004 Games when 10 cities started off and the eventual winner
was Athens.
The first candidates to be eliminated last year were Rio de Janeiro, Leipzig,
Havana and Istanbul. Istanbul was making its fourth consecutive bid while Rio
had been hopeful of becoming the first South American city to stage the Games.
Paris was a favorite from the start. They had hosted the Games in 1900 and
1924, The IOC has so far, never rejected three consecutive bids from a front-runner.
Athens, feeling humiliated after losing to Atlanta when it tried to win the
right to stage the landmark 1996 centenary Games, won approval in 1997 for
the 2004 Games. This time it beat off a strong bid from Rome.
London started off way behind, according to the IOCs early reports. It was
also extremely embarrassed by having to withdraw enticements of free flights
to London, free phone calls and free British train travel which it had offered
to the 10,500 athletes and team officials. In the last few months London made
up ground quickly.
New York failed to win approval for a two billion-dollar Olympic stadium on
Manhattan’s West Side and this appears to have adversely affected their bid.
But it was already too late when bid leader Dan Doctoroff announced that a
deal had been struck with the New York Mets baseball team to have the stadium
built in Queens.
For some time the 2012 Games have been thought to have a better chance of being
awarded to Europe than North America in light of the 2010 Winter Olympics which
will be staged in Vancouver, Canada.
After Birmingham (twice) and Manchester failed in bids for previous Games,
London was eventually persuaded to mount a challenge.
It was this city’s first bid. In both 1908 and 1948, when the games were staged
in London, it was at the request of the International Olympic Committee and
not bid for.
