Some two-thirds of the 1,000 respondents involved in the poll, the first since the end of this yearʼs Games in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, said they believe Budapest would be able to do as good or even better a job of organizing the global event than Rio.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently held talks with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach in Rio de Janeiro near the end of the games, discussing Budapestʼs bid to host the 2024 Olympics.

The IOCʼs Agenda 2020 is “tailored” to Hungary as it encourages medium-sized cities to host the Games, said Orbán, who promised Hungary would make investments in transport, tourism and sport over the coming years. “The question is not why should we organize the Olympics, but why arenʼt we organizing the Olympics,” the prime minister added.

Budapest is one of four candidate cities for the 2024 Olympic Games, bidding against Rome, Paris and Los Angeles. Hungary received positive feedback in its bid to host the Games from the IOC’s executive board at a meeting in Lausanne in June. The IOC said that Budapest is well suited to the Olympics, according to Balázs Fürjes, government commissioner for the bid.

The latest Ipsos poll reveals that supporters of the bid are in the majority in all levels of society, with support particularly high among those in their 20s and 30s and holders of a university degree. The poll indicates that no significant shift has occurred since the last survey in December, and that the Hungarian people generally take a positive view about the possibility of the Games being held in Hungary in 2024.

Source: BBJ

Republished with permission