Italy withdraws Olympic bid

Italywithdrew its bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games on Tuesday after Prime Minister Mario Monti declared that Rome could not provide the necessary financial guarantees.

A day before the deadline for host city bids to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Italian leader said his government would not sign off on such a financial commitment during the current economic crisis.

"After a difficult evaluation we've arrived at the unanimous conclusion that the government believes it would not be responsible in the current conditions in Italy to take on these guarantees," said Monti during a press conference in the Italian capital.

"We've already asked Italians to make sacrifices," the premier added, referring to tough austerity measures introduced by his government and aimed at staving off a default by Italy on its public debt repayments.

Responding to Tuesday's decision Gianni Petrucci, president of Italy's National Olympic Committee said Italy's Olympic dream had "vanished."

"I accept the decision but I would have wanted greater respect because telling us 'no' on the last day was not nice," he said.

Rome's withdrawal leaves Madrid, Baku, Doha, Istanbul and Tokyo as contenders for the summer games.

Although Spain is also embroiled in a severe financial crisis, Madrid's head of the National Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, said they would not be following Rome's example.

"The withdrawal of Rome changes nothing for our candidacy," Blanco told news agency AFP.

ccp/ai (AFP, dpa)