
Hungary will withdraw its bid to host the 2024 summer Olympics, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told Reuters on Wednesday, after a meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlos and the Hungarian Olympic committee.
BUDAPEST Hungary will withdraw its bid to host the 2024 summer Olympics, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told Reuters on Wednesday, after a meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlos and the Hungarian Olympic committee.
Bidding alongside powerhouses Los Angeles and Paris, Budapest had been considered a long-shot candidate, pinning its hopes on the International Olympic Committee’s Agenda 2020 initiative.
After local opponents of the candidacy last week submitted a quarter of a million signatures on a petition for a referendum on the bid, Tarlos had suggested the city might quit the race.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than- Editing by Hugh Lawson)
