Madrid 2016 bid not affected by credit crunch

The Mayor of Madrid said the city’s plans for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympics will not suffer any budgetary constraints due to the current global economic crisis.

Alberto Ruiz Gallardon assured a reception for new bid sponsors that the project is financially secure because all of the city’s infrastructure is ready and 70 per cent of the remaining work is in place. “The crisis will not affect our plans”, he said

The Mayor also announced that some venues would be re-located to make the Madrid Olympic and Paralympic Games even more compact.

Gallardon and bid CEO Mercedes Coghen, told journalists at the reception that the next stage of the bid is to concentrate on communicating the project to the National Olympic Committees in each continent starting with Acapulco in ten days time at a meeting of the Pan American Sports Organisations (PASO).

Mercedes Coghen explained that it has been decided to relocate the Judo, Taekwondo, Handball and Rhythm Gymnastics venues to improve the bid. She explained: “With these changes we will have a truly compact Olympic city which together with a great transport infrastructure, will make this the Games for All, accessible to everyone.”

The Madrid 2016 team presented plaques to 26 new sponsors and named new envoys for the bid including Joan Llaneras, who won gold and silver in Indoor Cycling at the Beijing Olympics, and Teresa Perales who won three golds, one silver and one bronze in the Paralympics swimming.

(courtesy: sportbusiness.com)