2012 Summer Olympic bids
Five cities made the shortlist to
host the 2012 Summer Olympics (formally known as the
Games of the XXX Olympiad), which were awarded to
London (
United Kingdom) on
July 6 2005. The other four shortlisted cities were
Madrid (
Spain),
Moscow (
Russia),
New York City (
USA), and
Paris (
France). The bids for the 2012 Olympics were considered to be one of the most hotly contested in the history of the IOC. London will become the first city to host the Games
three times.
Bid evaluations
The deadline to submit a bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games was
15 July 2003. All nine cities that submitted bids before that date also met the
15 January,
2004 deadline for the 50-page
questionnaire. The committee gave a weighted average score to each city based on scores in eleven categories, such as
finance,
security, accommodation, past experience and
transport. On
18 May 2004, the International Olympic Committee gave evalutions of the potential hosts:
*
Paris,
France – scored 8.5 (
bid details)
*
Madrid,
Spain – scored 8.3 (
bid details)
*
London,
UK – scored 7.6 (
bid details)
*
New York City,
United States – scored 7.5 (
bid details)
*
Moscow,
Russia – scored 6.5 (
bid details)
*
Leipzig,
Germany – scored 6.0
*
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil – scored 5.1
*
Istanbul,
Turkey – scored 4.8
*
Havana,
Cuba – scored 3.6
The five highest-rated candidates were allowed to progress onto the next stage and were granted the right to use the
Olympic flame and
Olympic rings imagery in their campaign literature.
Final selection process
The election occurred on
6 July 2005 at the
Raffles City Convention Centre in
Singapore during the
117th IOC Session held in the same city. The opening ceremony was held at the
Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay and the guest of honour was the
Prime Minister of Singapore,
Lee Hsien Loong and the latter officially opened the session. After that, it held a cultural performance of dance and songs - the theme was "
One Voice, One Rhythm, One World".
At around 10:30, preliminary voting of the IOC eliminated Moscow, then New York, and finally Madrid as candidates. This left the contest between London and Paris. The IOC announced that they would release the final result at exactly 11:46. At 11:49
UTC on Wednesday,
July 6,
2005, the
London bid was formally announced as the winner by IOC president
Jacques Rogge. London and especially Paris were the pre-announcement favourites.
The results of the final voting rounds were:
Mistaken voting controversy
In December 2005 and some months after the bid process was over,
Alex Gilady, an IOC member, suggested that Madrid should have tied for second with Paris in the third round of voting, but didn't do so due to
Lambis Nikolaou of
Greece pressing the wrong button. He further postulated that if this had happened, Madrid would have beaten Paris in resulting run off ballot for second place, and gone on to beat London in the final round. However
Craig Reedie, another IOC member, dismissed the claims, commenting that a claim that an unnamed member 'might' have done something which 'might' have brought about something else which 'might' have brought about a different result is 'the kind of tittle-tattle that happens after many an IOC vote'.
London
After Birmingham and Manchester failed to deliver winning bids for the
1992,
1996 and
2000 Olympic Games, it was decided that only
London, with unparalleled international recognition and a population of 7.3 million, could possibly be given the chance to host a Summer Olympic Games. The jewel of the London bid was the Lower Lea Valley, the location slated to be transformed from a less desirable location into a world-class Olympic Park and Olympic Village. It will be connected via high-speed shuttle service dubbed the Olympic Javelin and existing transportation links, capable of transferring 240,000 people an hour. After the Games, the East London region will host one of Europe's largest urban parks created in decades and will be home to the Olympic Institute, a centre for sports medical centre and a place to study the Olympic ideals. The bid called for substantial improvement of the
London Underground system which will handle the Olympic crowds and more investment into new Olympic sites throughout London. Also, the bid committee proposed the
London Paralympic Games, which would be as important as the Olympic Games. London was considered by many to be second favourite for the bid after Paris, but last-minute intense lobbying by the bid team in Singapore probably swung the votes in their favour.
Following the success of the bid there were
further developments and announcements, including reactions to the security fears highlighted by the
7 July 2005 London bombings.
Paris
|
The logo of the Paris 2012 bid on the front of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) in Paris. |
Paris,
France was considered by many to be the favourite to become the host city of the 2012 Olympics, after losing out to
Barcelona and
Beijing for the
1992 and
2008 Olympics respectively. Paris's plan was very compact, with the placement of several sports in the Northern and Western Clusters and the Olympic Village between the two clusters. The plan had gained high technical merit due to the city's well-maintained transport system, ability to handle peak number of tourists with plentiful accommodation, and very high support among Parisians and the nation. Paris also planned to build temporary venues for some sports that can be moved and re-used elsewhere after the Games (dubbed "pre-cycling"). Much of their infrastructure, like the
Stade de France, was already in place and the city had had much experience in hosting successful international sporting events, including the
1998 World Cup and the
2003 World Championships in Athletics. Its rich cultural and Olympic heritage were also emphasised. These placed Paris in a very strong position.
Madrid
|
Madrid 2012's "Ready for you" campaign |
Madrid, the capital city of
Spain beat its southern counterpart
Seville to represent Spain on the international stage. Madrid presented an above average bid, with almost all sports contested in three clusters all within very close proximity of each other. Several existing facilities ensured the low financing necessary to host the Olympics; new permanent sporting venues would have provided a lasting legacy to the city. The transport infrastructure would have been able to accommodate the hundreds of thousands gathering in the capital, and this positive was coupled with the use of renewable energy and hydrogen vehicles. Madrid had also organised several high-quality European and world championships. The bid gained resounding support among the city and national population and was helped with the support of former IOC president
Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was lobbying votes for the Madrid team. Following the Evaluation Committee, which gave the concept generally high marks, Madrid emerged as a primary contender against London and Paris.
New York
|
A countdown clock on Union Square showing time until selection. It was part of the Metronome monument and has since been reverted. |
New York City was selected over
San Francisco as the sentimental favorite during the United States competition in
2002. The Olympic X Plan was the main concept proposed by the NYC2012 Bid team; two primary transportation lines would have strung the several individual clusters in
Manhattan,
Queens, and
Brooklyn together. By combining existing world-class facilities such as
Madison Square Garden,
Yankee Stadium,
Central Park, and the National Tennis Center with new venues like the Brooklyn Arena, Greenbelt Olympic Equestrian Park, and Olympic Regatta Center, the city hoped to show that it was worthy of holding an event of such magnitude. The city has plentiful accommodation and one of the strongest aspects of the bid was the city's ability to market itself throughout the world. At the heart of the X was to be the 4,400 room Olympic Village which would have provided spacious rooms well above the IOC benchmark. The bid was dealt a setback when New York State refused to approve the construction of the
West Side Stadium which was to be a main venue for the Olympics, and hampered the bid in the short-run. However, the New York bid was revived with the utilization of a
new Mets Ballpark as the primary venue for athletics and the ceremonies. New York was not seen as a front runner, and their chances in getting the games were hurt after
Vancouver got the
2010 Winter Olympics.
Moscow
 |
Manezhnaya Square in Moscow with the logo of the bid |
Moscow represented
Russia in the bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The capital city's Olympic plans were built on top of the legacy created after the
1980 Summer Olympics. Moscow's River Plan called for every single competition to be staged within city limits, making this one of the most compact proposals ever. All existing venues would have been extensively renovated and more venues were to be constructed in time for the Olympics. A new, modern athletes village was to be constructed on the Moscow River, which was the centerpiece and core of the city's Olympic bid. Despite the high support from the entire nation and invaluable experience, Moscow's bid suffered from a lack of accommodation and an older transport system which may not have been able to cope with the expected traffic from the Olympics.
There were several other cities that made bids to their government but were not put forward to the IOC.
Africa
*
Abuja,
Nigeria*
Cairo,
Egypt*
Nairobi,
KenyaAmericas
*
São Paulo,
Brazil made a bid to the
Brazilian Olympic Committee (won by Rio de Janeiro)
*
Toronto, Ontario, in
Canada, which did not bid after
Vancouver, British Columbia, also in Canada, won the bidding process for the
2010 Winter Olympics. It is considered extremely unlikely that any one country would be granted the privilege of hosting two consecutive games.
* United States (won by
New York City)
**Included in final cut
***
San Francisco, California**Shortlist
***
Houston, Texas***
Washington, D.C. (in cooperation with nearby
Baltimore, Maryland)
**Other bids received by
United States Olympic Committee***
Cincinnati, Ohio***
Dallas, Texas***
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania***
Los Angeles, California***
Tampa, Florida (in cooperation with nearby
Orlando)
**Bids of unknown status
***
Detroit, Michigan in the United States and
Windsor, Ontario in Canada, which are neighbouring cities, briefly considered a joint bid. This may appear to contravene IOC rules, which stipulate that Games are awarded to a single city.
Asia
*
Hyderabad,
India*
New Delhi, India
*
Tel Aviv,
IsraelEurope
* Bids to the
German Olympic Committee (won by Leipzig)
**
Düsseldorf**
Frankfurt**
Hamburg**
Stuttgart*
Budapest,
Hungary*
Milan,
Italy*
Rome, Italy
*
Seville,
Spain, made a bid to the
Spanish Olympic Committee (won by Madrid)
*
Stockholm,
Sweden*
Warsaw,
PolandA special type of hybrid
orchid has been bred to commemorate the IOC Session in Singapore. The flower is named Vanda IOC.
*
2012 Summer Paralympics*
Ancient Olympic Games*
2008 Summer Olympic bids*
2010 Winter Olympic bids* "
2012 hopefuls' green credentials" at
BBC News,
24 October 2005.
Official bid sites
*
London bid
