Three cities left to contest 2020 Olympic bid

The race to host the 2020 Summer Olympic games has become a three-way battle between Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo.

Baku and Doha were both eliminated by the International Olympic Committee despite having invested in sports venues over the last decade.

Concerns about financial constraints were played down by Olympic Games Committee Executive Director, Gilbert Felli:

“Of course the economical situation of Madrid was underlined by the report and the risk that could happen there. Of course we also assessed the fact that Madrid has got a lot of infrastructure so the risk of Madrid concerning the infrastructure not being delivered is low.”

While Istanbul is bidding for a fifth time, Tokyo is the only one of the candidates to have already hosted the event. Despite still recovering from last year’s deadly earthquake it is still seen as one of the front runners.

The three cities will go forward to the final phase, of the 17-month race which will end with a vote by the full IOC in Buenos Aires in September next year.

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