Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.8 / Trend M.Aliyev /
According to the survey, which was held by influential international information portal "GamesBids", Baku with a large margin of votes leads over the six candidate cities to host the Olympic Games 2020, the Ministry for Youth and Sport said on Wednesday.
In response to the website "GamesBids" (www.gamesbids.com/eng/) question "Which country do you support for the Olympic Games in 2020?" 50.63 percent of respondents named Baku. After earning 10,252 votes, Baku in the poll left behind Istanbul (16.29 percent), Tokyo (12.86 percent), Madrid (10.89 percent), Doha (5.61 percent) and Rome (3.72 percent).
"GamesBids" is one of the most influential websites that disseminate information about the preparation for the Olympics, the election process and the candidate-cities, CEO of "Baku - 2020" Organizing Committee Kenul Nurullayeva said, commenting on the results of the survey. She expressed confidence that the results of this survey will be taken into account by the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when electing the city that will host the Olympic Games-2020.
Among the subscribers of the "GamesBids" portal there are 129 national Olympic committees of the IOC, the international mass media outlets, members of the IOC, many fans of the Olympic Games from around the world, and athletes.
Based on a survey conducted in Azerbaijan in December 2011, 95 percent of respondents support the Olympic Games-2020 in Baku, 93 percent of those surveyed believe that these games will accelerate the development of sport in Azerbaijan, 30 percent expressed a willingness to voluntarily participate in the organization of games.
The IOC approved the nomination of Baku as a candidate to host the Olympic Games in 2020. In this regard, Azerbaijan established a National Organizing Committee.
Madrid, Rome, Tokyo, Istanbul and Doha will also compete to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. The first presentation of bids is supposed to be held in February, 2012.
In April, 2012 at a meeting of the IOC Executive Board question of qualifying for the next round of candidate cities will be considered, and the decision on this will be officially announced on May 20-25 in Quebec City, Canada.
After a two-stage selection the IOC will announce in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires on September 7, 2013 the city that will host the Olympic Games in 2020.
The National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan submitted Baku's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but those games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro.