Replying to reporters at the end of the BIE delegates’ meeting in Issy-Les-Molineaux, on the outskirts of Paris, he said “one must sportingly accept defeat”.
Riyadh’s was a “crushing victory” said the first citizen of the Italian capital, stressing however that Rome’s bid was “a beautiful project”.
Meanwhile, Sports Minister Andrea Abodi on Tuesday also voiced “disappointment” at Rome’s crushing defeat but said the legacy of the project must not be lost.
Today “there is a need for a city that wants to evolve, wants to grow, wants to develop”, Abodi told reporters after the decision at the BIE in Paris.
“There is a qualitative project to which the government has given its full support since the day it arrived,” he continued.
“I hope that the legacy achieved by women and men over these years will not be lost and that it will be implemented, because the city deserves it and the nation deserves it.”
South Korea’s Busan came second with 29 votes.
ANSA
