2020 Olympic Games

Yesterday at its meetings in Quebec City, the IOC Executive Board designated Istanbul, Madrid, and Tokyo as "Candidate Cities" for the 2020 Olympics, and eliminated Doha (Qatar) and Baku (Azerbaijan) in the process.  Thus, the three finalists will engage in a 15-month campaign to convince the 100 or so IOC members that it is deserving of the honor -- and burden -- of staging the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.   




Among the three, Tokyo is the only city with prior hosting experience having organized the 1964 Olympic Games, and is seeking to improve on its third-place finish in the voting for the 2016 Olympics that was awarded to Rio de Janeiro.  Madrid is making its third consecutive bid, and hopes that 2020 will be its charm, after finishing in third- and second-place, respectively, in the voting for the 2012 and 2016 hosting rights.



In its report to the Executive Board, the IOC Evaluation Commission rated Tokyo's bid as "very strong," while it gave Madrid a grade of "strong" and Istanbul the lesser designation of "good potential."  For my money, this is a two-horse race with Tokyo in the pole position and an all-but winner given the Euro Zone predicament that is sucking Spain's coffers dry.  Concerns over Turkey's capacity and infrastructure, in addition to its bid for the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2020) raise serious questions about its prioritization and understanding of the gravity of such bids.