But Balázs Fürjes, Hungary’s former State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office responsible for the development of Budapest and co-chairman of the LOC and who led the Hungarian capital’s previous bid for the 2024 Olympics, has promised the country will never give up on its "dream".

Budapest seemed to be gathering international support for its 2024 bid against Paris and Los Angeles when it was dropped in February 2017 after civil organisation Momentum Movement started a petition and secured enough signatures to have a referendum for Budapest residents if they wanted to organise the Summer Olympics in 2024 or not.

Nevertheless, out of the bid has emerged the $700 million (£550 million/€650 million) National Athletics Centre, built to host the World Athletics Championships, which opened here yesterday, on a former brownfield and disused industrial site which has helped revitalise a neglected part of the city.

“In the Olympic bid [for 2024], we selected the exact location, acquired the land for public use and outlined the concept for the Athletics Centre,” Fürjes told insidethegames during an exclusive interview here.

"The bid was cancelled in 2017, but it was jointly decided by the Government and the previous Mayor of the city to deliver the project anyway.

"Then in 2017 we started negotiations with World Athletics to deliver the 2023 World Championships.

"During the Olympic bid, they made their International Federation visit to Budapest, we presented the site and the concept of the venue.

"They loved it, so we just kept the plan and concept and delivered it."

The Danube Arena, which hosted the 2017 and 2022 World Aquatics Championships, is another legacy of the failed Olympic bid, while Fürjes has also overseen the construction of the 67,215-capacity Puskás Aréna, described by website goal as "one of the most impressive football stadiums in the world".

The Momentum Movement have accused Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of building facilities necessary to host an Olympic Games "piece by piece".

Hungary has won more Olympic medals since making its debut in the first Modern Games at Athens in 1896 than any other country not to have staged the Games.

The Government claim that, at the moment, they have not officially committed to another Olympic campaign for 2036 with Budapest having also failed with bids for 1916, 1920, 1936 and 1960.

Fürjes, though, admitted staging the Olympics remains a national ambition.

"The Budapest Olympics is the nation’s 100-year dream, and an Olympic nation must never give up on its dreams," Fürjes told insidethegames.

"The new system for selecting host cities is encouraging for cities like Budapest and regions like Central Europe.

"So, when the time is right, we will definitely consider it.

"But only on the condition that social support is broad, firm and strong."

To read the full interview with Balázs Fürjes in the Big Read click here.