Just on the day that the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), the Spanish, Catalan and Aragonese governments (who said they would not attend) must sign the candidacy agreement, Pere Miró, general director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) , has spoken of this fact and of the possibility that they may have of hosting the 2030 Olympic Games. Miró has been clear: “If we all have ‘seny’ and go together, this candidacy is explained with a magnificent story, with great solidarity between some big cities with the mountains, a long-term benefit and care for the territory. If it’s all together, there’s a match “explained in Rac-1.
A trusted person of the IOC president, Thomas Bach, who in fact has asked him not to retire to continue by his side, Miró gave an opinion on Aragón’s refusal to sign the document for the time being and on the possible consequences that this can have: “I want to exclude myself, I follow the news from home. In the world context, Aragón’s ‘No’ would be surprising. If one falls, the IOC would ask many questions”he admitted.
The director general commented that in other countries “there are other different problems” and that “at the Barcelona 92 Games there were already some conflicts”. One of the points in which Aragón does not agree is that the name of the candidacy be postponed. Miró was asked if bearing the name of Barcelona would be a point in its favour: “Technically it can be called whatever the bid wants. If it’s called the Pyrenees, the IOC accepts it. If you tell me if the name of Barcelona next to it has an impact, I don’t have to say it, everyone knows what Barcelona 92 was. But it’s a personal opinion.”
Miró also assessed what would happen if finally the candidacy only leads to Catalonia, a scenario that the Generalitat has already commented that it is not ruled out in case the agreement is not signed. “I don’t know, I have received information about the technical meetings, what is thought. Catalonia has very good facilities and Aragon too, in fact they have already presented two candidacies previously. I am in favor of joining and adding, including is good; excluding is less good”he reflected.
On more technical issues, Miró did not oppose the referendum that the Generalitat wants to hold in the regions affected by the Games (“is a way to do it, the IOC wants there to be majority support“) and considers that including Sarajevo (where skeleton, luge and bobsleigh can be held) is to improve “the story”, although “there may be other venues”.