Indianapolis is finalist to host 2016 Olympic Summer Games

            By John Stevenson, THG Sports

June 21, 2004

Indianapolis is one of five finalists accepted today by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland as candidate cities to host the XXXII Olympiad in 2016. Indy joins the cities of Kiev (Ukraine), Lima (Peru), Paris (France), and Cairo (Egypt) as a finalist. 

The decision was made following discussions that led to a unanimous consensus. The cities were accepted from a total of nine applicant cities, which also included San Diego, Belgrade (Yugoslavia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), and Cape Town (S. Africa).

Candidate cities were selected after a study of their application submitted earlier this year on 15 January. The study was made by a working group comprising Olympic Games experts who made a technical assessment of each applicant city's ability to stage successful Olympic Games in 2016. The technical assessment was based on 25 questions which included the areas of government support and public opinion, general infrastructure, sports venues, Olympic village, environmental conditions and impact, accommodation, transport, security, and experience from past sports events. The full report made by the working group is available on the IOC website, www.olympic.org.

The five candidate cities now have until November 15, 2004 to submit their candidature file to the IOC.  The candidature files will be analyzed in detail by an IOC Evaluation Commission, which will also visit the candidate cities, before issuing a report one month prior to the election. The final decision on the host city for the XXXII Olympiad will be made by the full IOC membership during the 117th IOC Session in Singapore in July 2005.

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