Mayor Bloomberg: “Croatia is such a beautiful country and the hospitality is something that I will never forget,”
New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg was in Croatia yesterday lobbying Olympic officials for New York to be chosen as host for the 2012 Olympic and Paraolympic Games. In the article below from the NY Daily News (which has the largest circulation of any newspaper in New York), Bloomberg made a nice plug for Croatia as well. I also note that the local TV newsprograms in New York had stories concerning his trip to Dubrovnik.
John Peter Kraljic, Esq.
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New York Daily News – http://www.nydailynews.com
Mike sells Apple as
Olympic home turf
BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Saturday, December 4th, 2004
If New york City gets the 2012 Olympic Games, every nation would have the home-field advantage in the city’s melting pot, Mayor Bloomberg said in Croatia yesterday.
Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff and Olympian Donna de Varona traveled across the Atlantic to address the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees at the Excelsior Hotel in Dubrovnik.
“There were 201 countries that competed in the Athens Olympics and we have children from 198 of them in our public school system,” Bloomberg said yesterday.
“No matter what the sport is and no matter what countries are participating, we’ll be able to fill the stands with New Yorkers who come from that country,” Bloomberg said. “It would be the most exciting thing anybody has ever seen in sports.”
New York is competing for the Olympics against Paris, Madrid, London and Moscow, and all five of the bid cities participated in the conference. In the hallways of the hotel, Bloomberg bumped into the mayors of Paris and Madrid, warmly wishing both of them good luck in the high-stakes global competition. Bloomberg, who had never been to Croatia before, also met with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and Dubrovnik Mayor Dubravka Suica.
“This is such a beautiful country and the hospitality is something that I will never forget,” Bloomberg said. Meanwhile yesterday, the city’s bid committee launched its international outreach campaign with its first major mailing to each of the 117 members of the International Olympic Committee.
The bid committee sent them a supersized brochure, measuring 38-by-26 inches and weighing 3 pounds, that contains enormous photographs of New York scenes and Olympic performances.
The International Olympic Committee will select the host city in July.