Madrid 2020's Theresa Zabell Says Olympics Can Be Done On A Reasonable Budget

Madrid 2020 Int'l CEO Theresa Zabell said that the city hosting the 2020 Games "can demonstrate to the world they can be done effectively on a reasonable budget," according to the AFP. Zabell said that "it was imperative that the Games did not get more and more expensive and therefore out of reach of a lot of cities who might wish to host them." Her message "will find a sympathetic audience among several of the candidates bidding to succeed IOC President Jacques Rogge," when he steps down in Buenos Aires on Sept. 10. Zabell, born in England but who moved with her parents to Spain within a year of her birth, said that a Madrid victory in the vote by the 100+ IOC members in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7 "would launch a new model for a Games." Zabell said, "We can demonstrate and show them that a Games can be put on on a reasonable budget. It's about a whole new model" (BANGKOK POST, 6/30).