MADRID 2020: Reedie points up need for Spain to hit anti-doping deadline

March 21, 2013

By Keir Radnedge

Spanish politicians were put on notice by Sir Craig Reedie that they must pass a new anti-doping law by June or all the 2020 Olympic promises made on behalf of Madrid will be utterly undermined.

Reedie was addressing the local, adiposity national and international media at the end of a four-day assessment by his evaluation commission of the Spanish capital’s hosting potential.

Madrid bid directors, such as president Alejandro Blanco and Mayor Ana Botella, will have been encouraged by positive comments about their ‘austerity Games’ proposal.

Madrid has around 80pc of venues already in place and has estimated an organisational budget at around $3.5bn, some $1.5bn less than Tokyo and mere loose change by comparison with Istanbul’s massive $19bn.

But all that will be blown out of the water if parliamentarians do not, at long last, deliver on long-running promise to introduce anti-doping legislation which will Spain into line with other major nations, let only their bid rivals.

Reedie opened by describing the role of the evaluation commission as assessing the risks and opportunities for all the candidate cities.

The task for the panel was to produce a detailed report for the IOC members at their own review in early July and then the vote on September 7 in Buenos Aires at the IOC’s 125th session [congress].

He described the site visits as having been “informative and presented in a very professional manner.”

He also ticked all the diplomatic boxes with an appreciation of the level of support from the political, business and sporting spheres from Prince Felipe – an Olympic sailor in 1992 – Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Mayor Botella and on down.

The IOC panel had attracted a small group of protesters, complaining that the priority for the city should be jobs now rather than in some possible future.

Reedie acknowledged the protests, said his panel understood them but said he had not received any request to meet them.