Credit crunch not hitting Games - IOC's Bach 27/04/2009 |
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The global credit crunch had primarily hurt sport at grassroots level and had so far made little impact on elite sport, International Olympic Committee vice president Thomas Bach said on Friday.
"Sport at club level and sport for all are more affected until now than the top level sport and top events," Bach told Reuters in an interview.
He said preparations for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and the London 2012 Summer Olympics showed the financial downturn had not severely damaged their plans.
"The progress in London is smooth. The problem with (private funding) for the Olympic village looks solved and in the end the Olympic village will make a profit, just like in Vancouver."
London has used contingency funds to inject into the village project after private investment dried up.
Bach, who is also supporting Munich's decision to bid to host the 2018 Winter Games, said the Bavarian city's hopes were not dented by South Korea's Pyeongchang bidding for the third straight time. France's Annecy has also decided to run.
"Every race starts the same for everybody at the starting block. You do not have any votes in your backpack from the last vote," said Bach, a German who is also president of his country's Olympic Sports Federation.
Pyeongchang lost out to Vancouver for the 2010 Games and Russia's Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
"I think the Munich bid has something to offer. It means that the Munich bid is focusing on presenting modern and sustainable Winter Games."
"Most of the facilities already exist or will be constructed in the next two years irrespective of the bid. Technically, it is a very modern bid," said Bach.
(Source: Reuters)
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