OLYMPIC BOOM

The past sporting year was a memorable one, and not just for the resounding victories of Azerbaijani athletes and the hosting of major international contests in Baku. This was a year in which Azerbaijan rose to a qualitatively new level of prominence within the Olympic movement. Our capital made a bid to host the Olympic Games in 2016. This project has great prospects since it will be the country's main priority for the next few years.

Everything will start from zero…

Work on the bid, which will be dispatched to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne before 14 January, is nearing completion at the moment. It covers every aspect of the Olympic Games, ranging from philosophy, i.e. the reasons why Baku wants to host the Games, to the Olympic heritage, i.e. how facilities built especially for this principal, quadrennial event will be used after the tournament. The document is almost ready, and American and German companies have helped us to develop it, as the country's National Olympic Committee (NOC) has signed a contract with them. Although Baku is taking part in an Olympic bid for the first time, some specialists believe that the candidate city is capable of getting through the first selection round. For example, Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov observed that an Olympic Games in Baku may soon become a reality, saying: "We often hold meetings of the organizing committee and participate in discussions on various issues at state level. Believe it or not, our confidence that Baku may actually win the race is growing day by day."

Meanwhile, the secretary of the Baku-2016 organizing committee, Ilham Madatov, stressed that the logo for the capital's bid has already been prepared, but it can be promoted only in Azerbaijan. "Before 14 January, i.e. before the IOC receives all the bids from candidate cities, campaigning for any contender is banned. Only after then can we wage an all-out fight for the Games 2016 - by filming adverts and producing commercials," Madatov said.

The rivals fighting to host the Games in 2016 have already been declared. Tokyo, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Prague, Doha and Chicago - the most serious candidates - are also in contention to host the main event of every four-year period. Each has its own trump card, and the Baku-2016 organizing committee is placing the main emphasis on the fact that if our city hosts this prestigious contest, all sports facilities will be built from zero.

Meanwhile, the words of the president of the European Olympic Committee (EOC), Patrick Hickey, in which he said that Prague, Doha and Baku have the better chances of hosting the tournament, have had huge repercussions. Hickey supported his view by pointing to the fact that the IOC tends to prefer holding the Games in smaller cities rather than in metropolises. So Baku has a chance of passing the first selection round and becoming one of the favourites in the Olympic race, especially as we all still remember the example of Sochi, a city that did not have a single sports facility meeting international standards before it was selected to host the Winter Olympics in 2014, but which provided the IOC with all the necessary guarantees at state level, personally from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Such is the mechanism

If we dwell upon the system for the selection of candidate cities in more detail, the IOC usually accepts applications nine years before the actual Games. Sometimes several major cities from the same large country put forward their candidacy. For example, Chicago and Los Angeles made bids to host the Games in 2016 in the USA, but the decision favoured Chicago. For this reason, cities first apply to the National Olympic Committee of their own countries and then a single candidate from the country is identified. "In our case, the first initiative to host the Games in 2016 came from the mayor himself. The mayor of Baku, Hacibala Abutalibov, officially informed the Azerbaijani NOC of Baku's desire to fight for the right to host the Games in 2016,. We examined this application, approved it and expressed our full support for this initiative," said NOC Vice-President Cingiz Huseynzada.

Today we are working to complete a questionnaire on various subjects, including the state of sports facilities, the financial resources of the city and the state as a whole, our business plan for the construction of the Olympic village and new sports installations. While preparing the documents, we study the experience of other countries, relating not just to purely sports aspects, but also to infrastructure - roads, airports, flyovers and many other things. "Specialists from various spheres are working on this, and an organizational committee to support Baku-2016 has been set up which will involve representatives from all ministries which will be involved in this issue at any level. For this reason, we are working on these issues," Huseynzada said.

Talking about the advantages of Baku's candidacy over its rivals, Huseynzada observed that Azerbaijan is developing at a rapid pace, as noted by foreign specialists. "This allows us to say that within the next seven to nine years, we will be able to solve all issues related to economic aspects of the Olympic Games in Baku. Secondly, all Olympic installations in Azerbaijan will be built from zero, and I regard this aspect as a great advantage because the arenas where the contests will be held are projects of tomorrow. If we had come up with this initiative several years ago, this step would have surprised many people. Over the last few years, Azerbaijan has hosted many major contests, including World and European championships. And who are the members of the IOC? They are representatives of various sports federations who now do not have to rely on the grapevine to hear about a country which has already hosted the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship, a licensed volleyball tournament and many other important contests. I think that, for its number of Olympic qualifiers, Azerbaijan is in the lead not just among CIS countries, but is also one of the leading players in Europe," the NOC vice-president stressed. 

At the same time, there is a firm opinion that Europe does not have much chance of hosting the Olympic Games 2016. The point is that Games 2012 will be held in London, and if we take into account that the Winter Olympics of 2014 will be held in Sochi, Europe's chances of hosting this event look quite weak. Huseynzada agrees but, at the same time, he recalls that, despite this situation, major European cities intend to take part in the competition because it is based on sport, not diplomacy.

Meanwhile, the NOC vice-president had some difficulty in saying what result in Baku's debut struggle to host the Games could be regarded as successful. "It is difficult to answer this now. The thing is that the selection mechanism has two stages - the so-called contenders' and candidates' stages. The IOC selects cities from a list of contenders, after which they compete as candidates. Of course, it would be good if Baku made it into the second selection round, but the number of candidates is usually very limited. However, even if you get onto the list of contenders, this is still an achievement and, in any case, the city must work to improve its infrastructure, especially as the state is investing a lot of money in this project. For this reason, it is in our interests to carry on fighting for the right to host Olympics 2016 as long as possible, because even the bid itself opens up new opportunities for the Olympic movement and the development of sports in Azerbaijan. And work will continue regardless of whether Baku gets the Olympics or not. In any case, renovation work in the city will continue. It is just that if Baku's candidacy is accepted, the construction of certain facilities or flyovers could be timed to coincide with the Olympic Games," Huseynzada said in conclusion.