By Duncan Mackay in Lausanne

 

June 16 - The decision as to who will host the 2016 Olympics will be down to which city seems best for the athletes, and not purely economic reasons, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge (pictured) said today.

 

Rogge said the Olympics represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the athletes and it would be the city out of the quartet of Chicago, Madrid Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo that appeared to be the best for the athletes that would prevail in the vote in Copenhagen on October 2.

He said: "Economics will not drive our decision. We have shown in the past that we don't always go for the richest candidate.

 

"For me, the athletes come first.

 

"The Games are for them and nobody else.

 

"They have fought hard to be there. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for which they had trained for up to 12 years to be there.

"I am not fond of geopolitical aims.

 

"They play a part but not a huge one and I am not fond of them playing too large a role.
 

"Ultimately it is not the economics but leaving a sustainable legacy to leave it as a bonus for the inhabitants of the city, the region and the country."
 

The four cities bidding to follow London 2012 and host the 2016 Olympics are all due to give a 45-minute presentation tomorrow to 92 IOC members at the Olympic Museum on the banks of Lake Geneva, the first opportunity many of them will have had to study each city's proposals.

 

Rogge refused to criticise Brazilian President Lula for comments which some of the rival candidates have found to be openly critical of them which is strictly against the campaign rules.
 

Lula gave a press briefing in Geneva yesterday in which he again claimed that South America and Brazil deserved the Olympics more than any of its rivals.

 

Rogge said: "I am not going to comment on comments of a Head of State.

"However, I know his passion.

 

"He has always been a very passionate man.
 

"He is a very hands-on man for his country."
 

The chances of Lula coming to Copenhagen along with United States President Barack Obama is a potentially enthralling duel in itself as they lobby IOC members and Rogge said that whilst there had been a debate over whether heads of state should be allowed to come, ultimately it was futile to stop them.

He said: "We thought of just making it permissible for Ministers for sport to come.

"However some heads of state such as the Austrian Chancellor are also ministers for sport and so he was present in Guatemala for the decision on the 2014 Winter Games as Salzburg was a candidate.
 

"Our position is very clear.

 

"If a head of state wants to be there he is very welcome but they must restrict themselves to what the Ethics Commission rules are."