No, it was because I knew how much was riding on our presentation, and how much this bid means to so many people. I knew this was going to be one of the most important speeches in my life.

I was representing my city and country for sure just as I have often done at numerous civic, cultural and diplomatic events. But this was different. Very different.

To speak at an event or a conference on international sport has huge significance for someone from Hungary. Events on the sports field have shaped us as a country. In times of crisis, sport has united us as a country; sport is how we express ourselves as a nation - especially at the Olympic Games, sport’s grandest stage.  

When it was my turn to follow Balázs Fürjes, the chairman of Budapest 2024, on the podium at the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in Doha, I looked out at the 1,000 or so faces - the United Nations of Sport. The room was completely packed - everyone had turned out to hear the 2024 Olympic bid presentations - and the applause took me back a bit. It was a thrill, an honour and a huge responsibility to be presenting my city’s case to some of the highest elected representatives and officials of sport from around the world.

Like an athlete, I had trained and prepared for this moment. I felt ready for the challenge, as I truly believe my city and my country is ready. Unlike some of the other speeches I have given over the course of my career, I wanted to savour this moment, as a moment in history that I might look back on in a year’s time and say, "I was a part of this".

The thing that most affected me about that presentation was sharing the stage and occasion with some of the world’s finest athletes. Although I gave my best, to do what I did - that is, turn up at an event and deliver my words - is nothing really compared to an average day’s training routine for these women and men. But isn’t that what it’s about? An Olympic and Paralympic Games is about giving your best, however small or large your role may be.

Everyone from Hungary I met at our National House in Rio, everyone at home who I talk to about the Games, has a look in their eyes that says, "I will do my best for Budapest". For Budapest, for sport and for the Olympic Games - after all every Hungarian schoolchild can repeat the history: that our nation was a founding member of the modern Olympic Movement - that Hungary's founding Olympic father Kemeny offered to host the first Olympic Games of our time in Hungary in 1896.

I’d like to give those children the opportunity to make history, not repeat it. For them, the Olympians and Paralympians who came home from Rio are national heroes. In fact, today’s schoolchildren are the future Olympians and Paralympians, the future national heroes of 2024.

And that got me thinking about what it must be like to be the one who delivers the news. What must it be like to be the President of that NOC of the winning country, addressing his team of Olympians and Olympic hopefuls when the news has broken? What do those hundreds of faces look like in that crowd of young people who have trained all their lives for a chance to compete at an Olympic Games, now to be told that in fact those Games will be here – right here – in the home town they know and love?

That elation is something I dearly want to experience… hugging friends and strangers and literally jumping for joy. Those of us who have never felt it for ourselves have all seen it on TV; it’s impossible not to smile when you see their faces.

Budapest has bids under its belt, past bids it has learned from and taken courage from. We are ready to celebrate our election dream as host city and ready to go to work.

Budapest is ready to welcome the world too. I would love to see the faces of the Olympic Family when they see the beautiful Danube for the first time, are amazed by the view from the Citadella, the Chain Bridge, or visit our World Heritage sites, award-winning festivals, cafes, and world-famous spas, step out into full stadiums and feel that electricity in the air. We have so much to give the world.

I said in my speech that Budapest is a city on the rise. It’s true in so many ways - tourism is growing at the fastest rate in Europe, the economy is growing - steady, sustainable and reliable - and now Budapest has been recognised as one of the top current and future global sports cities.  

I sometimes ask myself what would it be like to look around my home town in 2024 and say, "I am a part of this?"

When they open that white envelope in Lima, will it be eight magic letters that encapsulate the hopes and dreams of so many; indeed of a nation? Not just a celebration for Budapest but sending the message that “you too are a part of this” to mid-sized cities all over the world. Who share our Olympic dreams. I am optimistic.