Not bidding for 2020 Olympics was the right decision: Pietro Mennea
February 16th, 2012 - 9:50 pm ICT by IANSMilan, Feb 16 (IANS) Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s cabinet not backing Rome’s bid for the 2020 Olympics was a right decision, feels the country’s former Olympic champion Pietro Mennea.
According to the 1980 Olympic 100m gold medallist and long-time world 200m record-holder, the decision against bidding for the Olympics “prevented Italians from being stuck with an indefinite burden”.
“Taxpayers and the country are not in the right economic conditions to host this huge event, and Monti made a very responsible, honest and correct choice”, said Mennea, who is also the author of various books on the Olympics including the recent “I costi delle Olimpiadi (The costs of Olympics)” that was reportedly studied by Monti attentively before his announcement Tuesday.
Mennea noted that Italy’s investment plan for the Olympics estimated around 10 billion euros, about the 0.7 percent of gross domestic product, would unavoidably mount in case of Rome hosting the games.
“Costs for London Olympics have quadrupled, and the Beijing ones have more than doubled, while costs for Athens Olympics rose from three billion euros to 15 billion euros, which triggered the country’s debt crisis,” he said.
“I participated in the Munich and Montreal Olympics in 1972 and 1976, and I know that both Germans and Canadians finished to pay off the games’ burden only in 2005,” Mennea stressed.
“I have been studying the Olympics phenomenon for decades, and can tell for sure that the world games have never helped any economy recover,” he said.
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