The 2020 Summer Olympics...Istanbul Anyone?

Turkey has never hosted the Games but Istanbul's for 2012 bid was the fourth consecutive including 2008, 2004 and 2000. "Istanbul has decided to take a short break from their "bid until we win" motto and refrain from bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games to focus on their 2020 bid... We will have to wait till mid-2013 to know who will host the 2020 Olympics... A lot has changed since the 2012 bid, when the IOC didn’t think Istanbul was ready to organize the event. Turkey has set up a permanent Olympic Bid Committee and Turkey’s Parliament has enacted the first Olympic law in the world guaranteeing the full cost of staging the Games and the government has set aside fixed sources of revenues for facilities."
Source excerpts from TimeOut Istanbul
Mavi Boncuk |
The 2016 Summer Olympics, Games of the XXXI Olympiad, are a major international sports and cultural festival to be celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The host city of the Games will be Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as announced at the 121st IOC Session (which is also the 13th Olympic Congress) held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 2, 2009. They are scheduled to be held from 5 to 21 August 2016.