Bubka joins Olympic presidential race

“I would like to take this opportunity to humbly inform you that I will submit my candidacy for the presidency of the IOC,” Bubka said in a letter. He is the sixth contender.
The election will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 10.

The record field includes IOC vice-presidents Thomas Bach of Germany and Ng Ser Miang of Singapore as well as finance commission chairman Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, amateur boxing association chief CK Wu of Taiwan, and international rowing federation head Denis Oswald of Switzerland.

Bubka will be the youngest candidate in the race, 10 years younger than the 59-year-old Bach.
He competed in four Olympics from 1988 to 2000, winning the pole vault gold medal for the former Soviet Union at the 1988 Games in Seoul.

A six-time world champion, Bubka set a total of 35 world records during his career. He still holds the outdoor and indoor records in the event.
Since retiring from competing, he has been Ukrainian National Olympic Committee president, International Association of Athletics Federations senior vice-president and a member of the IOC executive board.

Meanwhile, a united Spain is prepared for the fight for Madrid to win the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games, the bid’s president Alejandro Blanco said in an interview.
The 62-year-old former judoka — who is also president of the Spanish National Olympic Committee — insisted the bid had united people nationwide who see it as a way of easing the dire situation of the Spanish economy.

Unemployment was at a record 27,16 percent overall at the end of the first quarter as the country struggles through a double-dip recession sparked by the collapse of a decade-long building boom in 2008.

But such is the enthusiasm across the country that Spain’s World Cup and European Championship-winning coach Vicente del Bosque has been encouraged to sign up as an unpaid volunteer.

“The studies carried out for our bid state an important number of jobs will be created not only in the construction sector but also in other important areas for our economy such as tourism and the hotel industry.” — BBC Sport.