IOC President Thomas Bach Says Rule Change Could Favor African Bid

African countries stand a higher chance of staging future Olympic Games "if proposed changes to bidding procedures are adopted" by the IOC, according to REUTERS. IOC President Thomas Bach said that his wish "was to see the continent stage the world's most prestigious sports competition." Bach: "Africa has produced excellent athletes and yet has not staged the Olympic Games. We (at the IOC) would be happy to see a feasibly bid from the continent. ... We are already discussing changes to bidding procedure under the framework. ... We want to open doors to more cities and more countries to bid to organize the Games." He "did not give specifics of the changes to bidding and organisation of the games, but there have been murmurs of discontent, especially from the African countries," over the idea of staging some 28 disciplines in a single city as opposed to the FIFA World Cup, which takes place across several cities of one country (REUTERS, 6/2).