Rome drops Olympic bid

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who is running a tight austerity緊縮 campaign競賽 in order to battle the Eurozone debt crisis債務危機, made the shock announcement after a cabinet meeting內閣會議. He said it would be an irresponsible use of taxpayers' money to guarantee the funding of Rome's Olympic bid投標 for 2020.

The cost of hosting主辦 the games had been estimated at over $12 billion. The head of Italy's Olympic Committee, Gianni Petrucci, said that a dream had vanished消失 after two years of hard work. The Olympic Games were last held in Rome in 1960 and the committee was proposing to refurbish翻新 many of the sports facilities設備 built at that time for the new games.

Now, Mr Monti's decision means that for another decade there will be no more talk of holding the games in Italy. But the prime minister's refusal拒絕 to guarantee the funding of another Rome Olympics is likely to be welcomed on international financial markets as proof of his seriousness in tackling Italy's Euro debt crisis.

The debts incurred招致 by holding the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 have been blamed for contributing貢獻 to Greece's current economic disaster. Rome's withdrawal from the 2020 Olympic bid leaves four cities in the running for hosting the games: Doha, Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo.

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