Madrid 2020 said that companies such as Accenture, BBVA, BMW, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Telefónica and many others had declared their interest in forming part of the Spanish capital's Olympic and Paralympic project.

In coming months, they will be offered four different ways of "providing their support" through a sponsorship programme allowing them to contribute to the creation of plans promoting and developing sport and the city.

The bid has had the misfortune to coincide with a period of turbulence in the Euro Zone, which has brought instability and uncertainty to some European countries and pushed up borrowing costs.

The situation was largely responsible for the withdrawal of a Games bid from the Italian capital Rome.

Acknowledging that there was plenty of bad news around, Alejandro Blanco, President of the Madrid 2020 bid, said "the project that will bring Spain together".

Spanish business and Madrid 2012 bid representatives 

"We do not seek the glory of sport, which we fortunately already have," Blanco told the assembled business leaders.

"We seek social excellence, and to achieve it, we count on you."

Ana Botella, Madrid's Mayor, described the bid as a "strategic opportunity" for the city.

A Madrid 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games would "invigorate industrial and commercial activity, generate employment, attract investment, promote tourism and boost the international image of our city," she said.

The present race is the third consecutive Summer Games contest Madrid has taken part in, as it strives to emulate Barcelona, the Summer Olympic and Paralympics host in 1992.

Indeed, the city came close to springing an upset, which might have seen next week's Olympic Opening Ceremony staged not in London, but Spain.

In the 2016 race, Madrid was a distant second to Rio de Janeiro.

Its rivals in the 2020 contest, to be decided in Buenos Aires in September 2013, are Istanbul and Tokyo.

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