Sheikh Tamim officially launches Doha 2016 Bid

Qatar's Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani officially launched on Thursday 25 October 2007 the Doha 2016 Bid logo in a spectacular ceremony at the Doha Corniche. Several local and foreign personalities were present during the event. Doha City is now ready to launch its campaign to bid for hosting the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Banners and billboards are seen everywhere in Doha as part of an advertising campaign in English and Arabic to raise awareness of the city’s giant enterprise. The banners are also promoting the launch event of the Doha 2016 Bid as well as its official website, which both were officially launched that night by His Highness Sheikh Tamim.

Doha is competing with six other cities – Chicago (USA), Madrid (Spain), Prague (Czech Republic), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Tokyo (Japan) and Baku (Azerbaijan).

In statement to the press following the official ceremony, H E Sheikh Saud bin Abdurrahman Al Thani, Secretary General of the Qatar Olympic Committee said Doha's bid to host such a grandiose event was part of clear vision by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, to further achieve excellence in all aspects of development and prosperity, including in world-class organization of international sports ventures.

As part of Qatar's efforts to win the bid, the Doha 2016 Bid Delegation headed by Chairman Hassan Ali Bin Ali arrived at the home of the Olympic Movement in Switzerland on October 14 for the start of an IOC workshop about the 2016 Candidature process.

Hassan said: “It is a great honour to be here in the home of the Olympic Movement. I am very much looking forward to this workshop. The Doha team is here to understand what the Olympic and Paralympic Games are all about, the background, the rationale for the Games and the selection criteria of selecting the Host City. Our application file is well underway, but we anticipate that this workshop will help us refine our plan and the document we submit.”

"We are going to work extremely hard to do a very good job in our Bid. We gained enormous experience when we hosted the Asian Games last year. However, Doha has never bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games before, so I am certain these sessions will be extremely instructive for us," he further explained.

“We are also extremely proud to be here at the heart of the Olympic Movement representing the first city from the Arab World bidding to host the Summer Games."

"We believe that honouring Doha with the 2016 Games will unleash the power of the Olympic Movement and peaceful sport to create understanding, hope and change that could unite the Arabic world with the rest of the world,"

The series of seminars, held over three and a half days, aim to instruct the Delegations of all Applicant Cities in all the technical aspects required to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games. These include elements such as security, accommodation, transport, technology, sustainable development and legacy.

Doha’s Application File is due to be handed in to the IOC on January 14, 2008. A shortlist of the Candidate Cities will be announced in June 2008 and the announcement of the Host City will take place on October 2, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.