Rome: Rome’s bid to host the 2024 summer Olympics was dealt a potentially fatal blow on Wednesday after the city mayor refused to give her formal backing.
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Raggi says it’s irresponsible to bid for 2024 Olympic Games, effectively dooming Rome’s candidacy. Ms Raggi, who won a landslide in June after promising to cancel the bid launched previous year, said Rome was still paying off debts linked to hosting the 1960 Olympics.
Withdrawal of Rome’s bid leaves Paris, Budapest and Los Angeles contesting in the race for the 2024 Games, which will end in September 2017. These days, Rome is a city which can barely pick up its own rubbish.
The Rio Olympics in August, which cost around $12 billion, was deemed a success but was dogged by controversy and doubts remain about its legacy.
While the Roma 2024 campaign has not formally abandoned its bid, organisers had already suggested that the mayor’s support would be necessary to continue.
“We’re honoured that Rome will host such an important sports event”, Raggi said.
Raggi, who was elected in June, said she felt that the games “are just not sustainable” and hosting them would “just bring further debts”, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Boston was the first to falter, followed swiftly by Hamburg-and now Rome’s new mayor has axed its bid for what would’ve been its first games since 1960. The International Olympic Committee’s “Agenda 2020” aimed to cut the cost of the Games and make bidding more attractive, but has failed to stop cities withdrawing their candidacies, scared off by the size, cost and complexity of the event. “Romans don’t want that”, added Raggi.
People aren’t buying the Olympic hype anymore, for two main reasons – they don’t believe diving into the red to host the games will solve any of their chronic problems, and they’re getting exhausted of waiting for real progress on fixing those problems to begin with.
The country’s former prime minister halted the city’s plans to bid on the 2020 Olympics because of – you guessed it – financial troubles. Officials in Rome said on Wednesday that, actually, going into debt to build a velodrome and a beach volleyball arena isn’t a great city planning idea.
Malago had previously pledged that the estimated 5.3-bn-euro budget for the 2024 Games would come exclusively from the Olympic Committee, sponsors and state coffers.
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“This city is unlivable”, Raggi said. Rejecting the Olympics may be her way of winning back popularity and asserting her own authority over the city.
