Madrid, February 6th 2005

The last day of the Evaluation Commission visit has started today at 9am, although some IOC members have not attended the first meetings because they were visiting some sport facilities and hotels of the city.

The first presentation of the day has been the one about Paralympics Games, which could not take place the last Friday. The Madrid 2012 Paralympics will be the first ones in the history which will concentrate all the sport facilities in a radius of only 5 kilometres. As Alberto Jofre, Manager of the Spanish Paralympic Committee, has said, these Games will be the only ones without any budgetary project.

Cofre and Miguel Segarra, Secretary General of the Spanish Paralympic Committee, has said that the examiners have shown a lot of knowledge about the paralympic project and have asked if the disabled sportsmen will have the same advantages that the other Olympic participants, including accommodation prices and use of the Olympic lanes.

The Paralympic representatives, which were very satisfied with the presentation, have emphasized that the two “strongest points” of the bid are the concentration of the venues and the unanimous support of the institutions. “The other bids will not be able to present such a good project”, Jofre has added.

After that, the presentations about media operations, customs and immigration formalities, medical services, technology and olympism and culture have taken place. Alfonso Alamo, Emergencies Managing Director of the City Council of Madrid, has talked to the media to state that the city would be “ready to manage the Olympic Games medical and emergencies operation tomorrow”, as “the reaction after the March 11th bomb attacks showed”.

On his part, Santiago Fisas, Sports Councillor of the Community of Madrid, has stated that the members of the Commission have been “very interested” in the different programmes for the young talented sportsmen.

Fisas has finished with a very optimistic message: “Madrid is not only a city which is ready to organize the best Olympic Games ever, our city also has a quality that not all the cities have: joy of life and passion”.

After the final notes and meeting, the members have had lunch and some rest before the final press conference at 5pm. The thirteen commissioners have talked to the accredited media led by their President, Nawal El Moutawakel, and the IOC Executive Director, Gilbert Felli. The Olympic examiners have avoided praising the city of Madrid and have referred to the report which will be unveiled in June, although they have pointed out that the support of the institutions and the population will be “appreciated” by the voters.

El Moutawakel has added that “we have had detailed discussions with Madrid, we have seen all the competition venues and the visits have been very productive. We thank the bid team for their hard work and they can very happy with the professionalism with which they have managed the process”.

On the other hand, nor El Moutawakel or Felli could justify why Madrid has been the first candidate city in being visited, especially when a previous draw had established that Madrid would be the last one in every presentation. “We had to start somewhere”, the president has said, “we are all from different continents, and we all have our own jobs. Nobody has something against Madrid or other city. We are neutral”, she has added. Moreover, Gilbert Felli has reminded that Beijing also complained because they were the first candidate city to the 2008 Olympic Games in being visited, but after that they got the Games.

The Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, has stated afterwards that the Evaluation Commission visit “has been a real scanner” that has benefited the bid because “we have shown it was true that the 70% of the infrastructures were ready o being built”

Moreover, Gallardon has said the 2012 Olympic Games will be the “most ecological ever” and has pointed out that he would have liked the visit to last 40 days so the bid committee could have “shown everything in detail”.

The Mayor was very satisfied with the work done by the almost 200 speakers that have defended a “solid and firm bid” and has stated that the Madrid 2012 project “is one of the most complete ones”.

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