Posted: July 6, 2005

Olympics: Reactions to I.O.C. Decision

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Here are some of the various reactions to the International Olympic Committee's decision to hold the 2012 Olympic Games in London. For the record, the final vote was 54 to 50 favoring London over Paris.

Dave Moorcroft, Chief Executive of UK Athletics:
"It is such fantastic news that London’s bid to host the Olympic Games has been successful. The legacy of hosting this event is so significant it will transform not only athletics but British sport on the whole. The effect will not just last until the Games but will be felt beyond 2012 for many years to come. In athletics terms, the chance to compete in the Olympics, and to host the games in this country creates a focus that athletics has been looking for, for many years."

Dan Doctoroff, Founder of New York's Bid:
Today ends an 11 year journey not just for me but for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who hoped to make our Olympic dreams a reality. Now more than ever before people from around the world are aware of our City's great diversity, capacity, dedication and drive. Though we did not win, our bid for the Games had a positive impact on our City that we will feel for decades. With our Olympic bid as a catalyst, major development and renovation projects were completed, and people from diverse backgrounds came together to support our bid and built relationships that will last forever. Now, however, New York must move on. But we do so with a greater commitment to the promise of the Olympic spirit. I applaud the London bid and am confident that they will be a remarkable Host City for the Games."

Lamine Diack, President of the IAAF:
"I would like to congratulate London. There were five excellent candidates, which are all great cities and were all supported in Singapore by the highest political authorities. This shows how important the Olympic movement has now become and I believe that any of the candidates would have been capable of organising a great edition of the Olympic Games in 2012. On the day though, London's presentation was excellent, and this was a race with only one winner. The IAAF is pleased that London will host these Games in 2012 because Great Britain has always been a great country for sport and particularly our sport of athletics. I was impressed by the plans to develop sporting facilities over the next years, and I would like to underline the fact that Britain will now have a permanent, state of the art stadium for athletics, and this is something we are very pleased about."

Tony Blair, British Prime Minister (as quoted by the New York Times):
"This is a momentous day for London. This will pay dividends for all of us."

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London (as quoted by the New York Times):
This is "one of the best days London has ever had - and it is one of the proudest days for Britain and for British sport. When we began this bidding process... very few people believed that we could win, but London's renaissance has overcome all the obstacles."

Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor (as quoted by the New York Times):
"There were five cities that competed this round and obviously only one could win and I'm terribly disappointed that it wasn't us. But, you know, we have no regrets - we went out on the field and we left everything out there; we played the game as hard as we could, we played it by the rules scrupulously, and we have every reason to be proud of how we did it."