Sport Centre
21-11-2007
Source: www.debrecen.hu

It did not succeed

Debrecen did not qualify for the second round of bid 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Candidature file of Debrecen seemed to be promising but the International Olympic Committee preferred metropolises. 

The decision of IOC was announced by the Mayor Mr. Lajos Kósa and the head of the candidature committee, Mr. Mihály Orendi in the press conference on 19th November. The Mayor reported that Debrecen finished in the seventh place, Moscow qualified for the next round in the first place, and the Russian capital was followed by Singapore, Athens, Bangkok, Torino, and Kuala Lumpur. Debrecen got ahead of Poznan and Guatemala City.

The Mayor stated that the international committee considered definitely the weakness of Debrecen the unfavourable condition of sport establishments, lack of the Olympic Stadium and besides it the marketing conception was only middling; furthermore educational and cultural programme and accommodation were inadequate. 

At the same time our advantage is the exemplary cooperation of the local government and the government, the public transport and conceptions written about the Olympic village.

The Mayor emphasized that Debrecen should not consider this decision as a defeat because Debrecen was one of the candidates working from the lowest budget; nevertheless it stood its ground in the strong international field. At the same time Mr. Lajos Kósa highlighted that they believed that the committee gives chance to smaller cities but on the contrary in the first round the winner was Moscow that is larger than Hungary.

Mr. Lajos Kósa added: the IOC firstly chose the safety strategy since it voted confidence to such cities that could organise youth Olympic Games already tomorrow. 

In spite of falling out of the bid, the plans described in the candidature file will be realized from which building of the football stadium seating 10-15 thousand has high-priority, in such a way that later it could be extended even to 30 thousand. Realization of the investment depends on the budget of the city and the National Development Project, but to build the arena, cooperation of investors would also be necessary – told the Mayor.

Besides building of the arena, it is also planned to renew the university sports establishments, increasing of the college capacities, developing of Oláh Gábor Street sport centre and establishment of a lit-up running track in ‘Nagyerdő’.