- Title: Bach defends Rio 2016 legacy, Coe call for tougher nationality rules
- Date: 4th August 2017
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) IOC PRESIDENT, THOMAS BACH, TALKING ABOUT THE LEGACY OF THE RIO 2016 OLYMPICS, SAYING: "With regard to the legacy you have always to take into the consideration the extremely difficult situation in Brazil which is I guess the worst crisis this country has ever gone through and that there in such a situation not all the legacy plans are coming to fruition in the time they were planned for is I must say to be respected in one way. We have to be fair there with the Brazilians." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) IOC PRESIDENT, THOMAS BACH, SAYING: "After the Games here in London the park was closed for more than a year to do the refurbishment and to make the adaptations and this opportunity you have to give to Rio 2016 and then given the very difficult circumstances then for reasons of fairness to give them an extension of this time because there may be in this emergency situation in this country other priorities at this moment in time." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) IAAF PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE, SAYING: "We have witnessed in the last few years the changing shape of our sport which at its best is which at its best is a championship-based sport and based on the best athletes competing against each other with national identity and I can't really have a situation where I've got federation presidents reporting to me that most mornings they're waking up to emails with names on of athletes that are looking for flags… So the process that… and this is complicated, I'm not pretending it isn't but we do need to make these processes a lot tougher, a lot tighter and yes gives scope for legitimate and genuine chances for athletes to move if we deem them sensible but it can't be done on the basis that just two federations agree and an athlete suddenly appears in a completely different uniform than the one they were running in six weeks ago and we agreed this morning with Thomas' sports teams that we would seek to work through this."
- Embargoed: 18th August 2017 16:05
- Keywords: Sebastian Coe athletics athletes IAAF IOC world championships London UK
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Athletics,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0026SQSDA7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach on Friday (August 4) blamed Brazil's economic crisis on the questionable legacy left in Rio de Janeiro by last year's Olympic Games.
Bach avoided direct criticism over the situation in Rio where many venues sit idle and already in a state of disrepair, saying the country had other priorities at the moment.
Other infrastructure projects, including a new metro line that does not extend all the way to the main Olympic Park, have had their effectiveness questioned.
Bach pointed out that the Olympic park in 2012 hosts London was closed for one year after the event and said Brazilian authorities should be given more time.
A report published by Brazil's federal agency for Olympic legacy (AGLO) in June said the cost of the Games had risen to 43.3 billion reais ($13.86 billion), around 14.5 billion reais more than originally planned.
The original budget when Brazil won the right to host the Games in 2009 was around 28.8 billion reais.
Meanwhile, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said his organisation and the IOC are working hard to clamp down on the rules relating to the transfer of national allegiance. Coe said it is too easy for athletes to switch from one country to another without always a significant reason. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
