Rome will spearhead an Italian bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Monday vowing a strong campaign to win the event.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announces Italy and Rome's candidacy to host the 2024 Olympic Games during a press conference at the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) in Rome on December 15, 2014
Italy is the first country to announce a bid taking advantage of new International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules allowing events to be staged in more than one city. Rivals in Europe and North America are expected to quickly emerge though.
Renzi announced at the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) headquarters that Rome would be the centrepiece of the Games bid but that "all the cities, from Florence and Naples to Sardinia" could be involved.
"This is a challenge we would like to win. We will do everything we can until 2017 when the final decision is made," said Renzi.
No specific details were released, although one report said the sailing events could be held around the millionaires' paradise of Sardinia.
Rome, which held the Summer Games in 1960, shelved plans to bid for the 2020 event two years ago due to concerns over rising costs as the country battled an economic crisis. Turin held the Winter Olympics in 2006.
Renzi said there would be a campaign "committed to making sure Italy wins this match".
"Rome will be the centrepiece of the project, then it will be up to CONI to decide which other cities will be involved," he added.
The IOC last week passed new rules allowing the Games to be held in more than one city and encourages the use of existing facilities so hosts can spread and cut costs.
- Critics attack -
CONI president Giovanni Malago said Italy's bid would be dynamic but low-cost.
"Less expenditure, more ideas and total transparency - our bid will revolutionary and led by a youthful team," said Malago, who admitted the IOC's new rules had encouraged Rome.
He said Italy would "exploit the expansion of existing infrastructure."
Critics of the plan quickly hit out though. In a flash poll on the website of Gazzetta dello Sport daily, 64% of readers voted against the bid.
Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing Lega Nord party, on Sunday said that some venues built for the 2006 Winter Games remain unused and that the country is still paying for the world swimming championships in Rome five years ago.
On Monday, Salvini took aim at Renzi, who comes from Florence.
"It would be better if the phenomenon from Florence thought more about the thousands of amateur Italian sports clubs that are at risk of closure thanks to the government, rather than fantasising about an unlikely Olympics," said Salvini.
Antonio Di Pietro, a former Italian senator and a prosecutor known for his anti-corruption work, appeared to take Renzi's government to task when he said the future canoe-kayak events could be "held in the streets of Genoa".
In October, hundreds of people were evacuated and millions of euros of damage caused to the northern city by heavy flooding.
Rome can expect a tough competition for the 2024 Games.
The US Olympic Committee is to decide this week between Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston or Washington for a probable American bid.
Germany has said that Berlin or Hamburg will be put forward for the 2024 or 2028 Summer Games.
Paris is to decide in January whether to stage a bid and the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, and Doha -- both beaten by Tokyo in the bid to host the 2020 Games -- are potential candidates. South Africa could have a bid by Durban or a joint Johannesburg-Pretoria bid.
Cities must make applications by September 15 next year. The IOC will choose a final list of candidate cities in May 2016 and make a final decision in Lima in mid 2017.
The IOC last week passed reforms to make hosting the Games more attractive and more affordable. The Games can now be hosted by two cities, or two countries. The cost of bidding will also be cut.
IOC President Thomas Bach called the new rules "historic" and "a major step forward in the organisation of the Olympic Games."
The 2014 Winter Games in Sochi cost Russia an estimated 50 billion dollars and IOC members believe the spiralling costs have put many countries off hosting the four-yearly showpiece.