The pruning of the field to five runners following the Italian capital's withdrawal is said by many to favour Doha; Rome may bid for 2024 instead.

But Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani (pictured), general secretary of the Qatar Olympic Committee and Doha 2020 vice-chairman, said there was no evidence either way at this point to say whether the move would help or hinder Doha.

"For us, five or six [bids] was never going to be a big difference," he told reporters after Doha revealed details of their bid file at a glitzy ceremony.

"We are sorry to hear about what happened with Rome.

"They are historically known for major events.

"All I will say is that we are concentrating [on] what we can bring to the Olympic movement in terms of added value."

Sheikh Saoud also played down suggestions that Qatar's 2022 FIFA World Cup victory could work against Doha, with only two years separating the world's two biggest sports events.


FIFA executives are still facing widespread criticism for voting for the tiny Gulf state but Sheikh Saoud said he did not expect a backlash from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when they choose the 2020 host city in Buenos Aires in September 2013.

"We have 115 IOC members and I genuinely believe the best bid among the five cities will win," he said.

"For us, it's not a problem.

"Actually the two events complement each other."

He reminded reporters that there were several precedents of back-to-back World Cup and Olympic ballot success.

"It's not the first time this has happened, remember.

"It has happened in Brazil [2014 and 2016] as well as the United States [1994 and 1996, when Atlanta hosted the Games].

"I actually see advantages of having both in terms of using the same infrastructure, while the legacies of both are totally in harmony."

Bid cities are not supposed to talk about rival candidates but Fahad Juma, deputy chief executive, technical bid and project management, who compiled Doha's applicant file, sailed close to the wind when discussing how the legacy aspect of an Olympics in the Gulf would be different.

"The only difference is that we are bidding for an entire region," he said.

"All the others...most of their stories are about their own cities.

"The intangibles are far bigger than the tangibles."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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