Olympics: Turkey to bid for one 2020 event

QUEBEC CITY: Olympics chief Jacques Rogge declared that Turkey is officially bidding for the right to host just one major sporting event in 2020 and it is the Olympics. Istanbul has in fact sought to host both the Olympics and European Football Championship in the same year, but Rogge told a press conference that only the Olympic bid is backed by the government. “We know that there is a bid from the Turkish football federation to stage the 2020 European championships,” said Rogge. “This bid is not yet accepted by Uefa and this bid does not have today the financial guarantees of the government.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2012.