Since Italian Premier Matteo Renzi announced Rome's bid for the 2024 Olympics last year, the details have been "something of a mystery," according to Andrew Dampf of the AP. However, bid chair Luca Cordero di Montezemolo revealed a list of "iconic venues" that will take "full advantage of Rome's historic settings and Italy's television-friendly backdrops." Among other plans, cyclists could finish the road race with a "sprint on the majestic Via dei Fori Imperiali" and sailing would take place "off Sardinia, Sicily or the Amalfi coast." The marathon route would run alongside Rome's synagogue and mosque to "promote interfaith peace." Montezemolo said, "With television today, to have the possibility to put together the sport, the emotion, with the (surroundings) is fantastic." The center of the bid project is the Foro Italico, "which features the Stadio Olimpico used for the 1960 Games with an adjacent aquatics venue." Montezemolo: "We can do the opening ceremony and the athletics tonight, (we're) ready. Swimming tonight. ... Seventy percent of the venues are existing." One of the biggest challenges to Rome's bid remains concern over "corruption in the construction contracts." Dozens of suspects "have been ordered to stand trial" in November for a widening corruption scandal in Rome labeled "Mafia Capital." In response Montezemolo said, "I don't accept that it's automatic to do a big event together with corruption." With "Mafia Capital" in mind, Montezemolo is appointing Renzi's anti-corruption czar Raffaele Cantone to a place on the bid team, and he is also "naming a handful of prominent judicial figures to oversee the contracts process." Montezemolo: "This is the best way to clean" (AP, 9/24).
