Only Durban responds to Olympic call

Durban has emerged as the only South African city on the starting blocks in the race to host the 2020 Olympic Games after Cape Town, Joburg and Port Elizabeth failed to respond to an invitation to bid from the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).

This was confirmed by Sascoc chief executive Tubby Reddy yesterday, who said the committee was surprised that Durban was the only city to respond to its call. However, he said Durban had shown strong intent and Sascoc would work with the city in seeking government support for a South African bid.

"We only had a response from Durban. We are surprised, especially after getting some good signs that Cape Town and Joburg would also put in bids. It would have been good internal competition? At Sascoc's annual meeting at the weekend, the board declared that this part of the bidding process has now been finalised."

Reddy would not be drawn on why Cape Town and Joburg had held back. "It would be wrong for me to speculate," he said.

"Now Durban is it and the real homework begins as we start to engage with the national and (KZN) provincial governments for their support for Durban and South Africa's bid for the 2020 Olympics. There will be extensive investigation and feasibility studies, but ultimately the decision on whether a formal bid will be submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will rest with the national government," he added.

Reddy could not say when the national government needed to make a decision. However, he said the IOC would open global bidding for the 2020 Olympics in August next year, after the IOC Congress meeting in Durban. The IOC conducts exhaustive investigations before deciding on host cities.

Municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe said Durban found itself in the "brilliant" situation of not having to go through an internal national bidding process.

"We have shown intent and now we've got Sascoc's backing. Now we just need the national government's backing," he said.

The Mercury

Posted at 09:43AM Sep 09, 2010 by Editor in Cities and Towns  |  Comments[7]