South Africa optimistic on 2004 Olympic bid
JAKARTA (JP): The Republic of South Africa is optimistic Cape Town can win the 2004 Olympic Games despite competition from Athens, Buenos Aires, Rome and Stockholm.
South Africa's director of technology and international relations for the Cape Town 2004 Olympic bid, Ntsundeni Madzunya, said at the South African Embassy that "we are very positive that we have a chance to win the bid. We are lobbying members of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) until August".
South Africa's Ambassador to Indonesia, Sydney Bafana Kubheka, was also on hand.
The IOC will announce which city will hold the 2004 OLympics on Sept. 5.
"For the first time, the Olympic Games will be hosted in an African way with its tradition arts," Kubheka said.
Cape Town is the poorest of the five competing cities with the lowest Growth Domestic Product.
"If we host the Games, the economic impact will be greater for Cape Town than the other cities. We expect the event will increase GDP," Madzunya said.
"If Cape Town wins, South Africa wins, Africa wins," he said, quoting a videotaped speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Madzunya met Indonesian IOC member Mohammad "Bob" Hasan earlier yesterday to discuss the bid, and the relationship between hosting the Olympics and development.
"The Olympic bid must be seen not only as the South African bid but also as the African bid. It will be a good start to enter the new millennium and the beginning of the African Renaissance," he said.
The country's ambition to host the Games is being supported by the building and expansion of sports complexes.
"The venues will be located down town, facing Table Bay. All infrastructure - including extending the airport, building the media village, upgrading roads - will need US$1.7 billion. The Olympic Park itself will cost $400 million," Madzunya said.
The whole complex will be divided into three parts: the Atlantic Coast, the Culemborg and the Wingfield Olympic corridors.
The Atlantic Coast will have the beach volleyball, cycling, tennis and triathlon venues and the IOC Hotel.
Center
The Culemborg will be the center of the Games and will host table tennis, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, gymnastics, handball, volleyball and hockey. The area will also have the media village, which will accommodate 15,000 journalists, the international broadcasting center and the main press center.
"Both areas will be built whether we win the bid or not," Madzunya said. "The two areas are under construction now."
The third area is the Wingfield which will host archery, rowing, track and field, swimming and handball. The 15,000- capacity athletes village will also be built in the area.
"The village will have 4,000 units. There are three types of units, which have one, two or three bedrooms. The village will be sold to the public as apartments after the Games," Madzunya said.
The organizers also plan to relay the Olympic torch through 30 African countries. The flame will be taken in Olympia, Greece, and will be run passing all capitals in 30 African countries over nine months.
"The organizers, in cooperation with sponsors, will finance the torch relay. It will give another image of Africa, the image of joyfulness instead of war," Madzunya said.
"It will describe the Olympic Movement's idea of solidarity, friendship and peace."
Madzunya said since the sports complex is near the railway and down town, participants and spectators will not have to worry about transportation.
Four-hundred-and-fifty-buses of different sizes and 50 trucks will be used to transport athletes and their equipment to and from the village and their venues.
More than 26,000 people would attend the Games.
Facilities will mean nothing if the organizers cannot provide skilled people, he said.
"The organizers will cooperate with other African countries to send their people. We'll train them and employ them during the event but after that they'll return to their countries to apply their skills," Madzunya said. (yan)