LMP: Hungarian sports kidnapped by party politics

Budapest (MTI) – Hungarian sports has been kidnapped by party politics when Olympians use their social status to support Budapest’s bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2024, which is a party policy issue, a lawmaker of green opposition LMP said on Tuesday.

István Ikotity told a press conference in front of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) headquarters that Budapest residents should be given a chance to decide whether the city should maintain its bid to host the Games. He said he was asking MOB head Zsolt Borkai to support a signature drive for a petition to hold a local referendum on the issue.

Even under an optimistic scenario, hosting the Olympics would cost Hungary 3,000 billion forints (EUR 9.7bn) but international experience shows that the final budget could be several times more, he said.

Source: MTI