Madrid’s 2012 Olympic bid is “immaculate”: IOC

6 June 2005

MADRID — A report by the International Olympic Committee into Madrid’s bid for the 2012 Games said the Spanish capital’s efforts to win the nomination “could not be bettered”.

The IOC reporte, leaked by the Madrid 2012 city council, said the city appeared “immaculate”.

It comes after some 1.3 million people took part in a gigantic street festival in the Spanish capital on Sunday to boost Madrid’s bid for the 2012 Olympics.

Hundreds of thousands of people, the majority families, strolled along a two kilometere (about 1.25-mile) stretch of the Paseo de la Castellana, where city officials organised a street festival that showcased 16 sports, including tennis, handball and judo.

Businesses and Olympic organizers handed out hats and visors, which festival participants used to ward off the intense sun and heat which reached up to 30C.

Some people waited in line up to 20 minutes for a chance to get t-shirts and other souvenirs of Madrid’s Olympic bid.

Madrid 2012 organisers also signed up hundreds of volunteers for the Games.

At noon, the fire department began hosing down those who wanted to cool off, while volunteers handed out bottles of water to the nearly quarter-million participants in the Olympic street festival.

The International Olympic Committee will announce their choice for the 2012 Games on 6 July.

Paris is the current favourite, followed by London. Other bidders are New York and Moscow.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news