Berlin,- Budapest has become the fifth city to officially declare its intention to bid for the 2024 summer Olympic Games.
An open letter from Budapest mayor Istvan Tarlos and Zsolt Borkai, chief of Hungary’s National Olympic Committee, to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach confirmed the plan on Wednesday.
“We are convinced that the application of Budapest is the response to the Olympic Agenda 2020 reform programme of the IOC: our intention to apply is fully in accordance with the economical Olympic concept of the IOC,’’ the letter said.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
It said the Games when held in Hungary would be “breaking the monopoly of the largest and wealthiest countries to organise the Olympics’’ and that smaller cities than Budapest, such as Antwerp, Stockholm and Helsinki have previously held the Games.
Budapest joins Hamburg, Paris, Rome and Boston in confirming its intention to bid for the event.
The deadline for bids is Sept.15 with the host city being named by the IOC in September 2017. (dpa/NAN)