Budapest 2024 Olympic Games Bid leader says Windsor 2016 FINA event in Canada highlights power of smaller cities to host world-class international sporting events

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 16-17 2016

- "Sport events of the highest calibre, like this FINA 25m World Swimming Championship in Windsor, help to support our case to the IOC that the time is right for mid-sized cities like Budapest to carry the Olympic flame and spirit to new audiences and to more young people in more cities around the world, " Budapest 2024 Olympic Games Bid Chairman Balázs Fürjes

Budapest 2024 Olympic Games Bid Chairman Balázs Fürjes, has thanked FINA and the local Windsor organizing committee for successfully delivering the FINA 2016 World Swimming Championships (25m), which he said highlighted the importance of sport for local and global communities and demonstrated the capacity of smaller cities to host major events.

Fürjes, also a member of the Budapest 2017 FINA World Swimming Championships Committee, congratulated Windsor as the first city in Canada to host the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), and as the smallest city to ever host the FINA event that attracts Olympic and major international championship swimmers from around the world.

"The Canadian preparation in Windsor was excellent – a lot of good planning has taken place – and Canada can be proud of Windsor and this event," Fürjes said.

Fürjes also added that the recent FINA 2016 Swimming World Championships in Windsor, which attracted approximately 1000 athletes from more than 170 countries and territories helped to demonstrate the power of smaller cities to host major sporting events.

"Sport events of the highest calibre, like this FINA 25m World Swimming Championship in Windsor, help to support our case to the IOC that the time is right for mid-sized cities like Budapest to carry the Olympic flame and spirit to new audiences and to more young people in more cities around the world. This will help to revitalize sport worldwide," he said.

"Windsor is the smallest city community ever to host a FINA world championship event, and demonstrates that world-class championships that are right for the athletes can be staged successfully by smaller and deserving, host cities, and shows these cities can contribute enormously to making major sporting events more accessible world-wide. "

Fürjes also thanked FINA and local organisers for providing the right conditions that enabled swimmers to set new benchmarks in the pool, including Hungary’s national heroine and Rio 2016 Olympic champion, Katinka Hosszú, who won an unprecedented 7 gold medals in Windsor, and was earlier awarded FINA Best Female Swimmer of the Year in 2016.

"As a nation passionate about swimming, the Hungarian team very much appreciated the efforts and planning that went into making the Windsor event work so well for the swimmers," he said.

"Hungary is a sports mad nation and loves its swimmers and will turn out in large numbers to support Katinka and the rest of the team in Budapest next year."

"There was a great sense of expectation and atmosphere in the swimming complex and that is also a measure of the event’s success in Windsor," Fürjes said.

"The local Windsor communities and volunteers were the perfect hosts; very warm and welcoming to swimmers from all parts of the globe as well as their home town favourites."

- ENDS –

For more information, please contact Ivan.Rozsa@budapest2024.org

- This year’s Sportcal listings recognise Budapest as the rising star of major global sport events, ranking the city seventh among the top global sport cities and second in the Future Sports Cities Index 2017-2023. Named as European Capital of Sport 2019, Budapest is a high-value city, with an excellent transport infrastructure and a long-term sustainable development plan. The Budapest 2024 Olympic Bid proposes a compact and intimate Games footprint in the capital, and a truly nationwide Games that features sport in six other Olympic cities. Budapest 2024 is dedicated to deliver an on-budget and inclusive Olympic and Paralympic Games in one of the top 20 most peaceful countries in the world. Sports-mad Hungary was one of the founding members of the IOC and has participated in the Games since 1896. Hungary is the only country ranked in the top ten of the all-time Olympic Medal table that has not yet hosted the Olympic Games.

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