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The IOC has long resisted attempts by countries and cities to
co-host the world's biggest multi-sports event, saying it would
water down the experience for athletes and fans, but IOC
president Thomas Bach said it now made sense.
Presenting the IOC's 40 recommendations for change to be voted
on in December, Bach told a small group of reporters reasons of
sustainability could see another city or even another country
hosting some of the competitions of an Olympics.
"What you see is the opportunity for specific reasons and the
reasons are for sustainability... to go to the cities for part
of a competition or for the whole competition," he said.
"The door is much more open and we even address that on the
legal side where we say that in such cases we may have more than
one contract partner."
Bach, who has been pushing for changes at the IOC since taking
over in 2013, said the central idea of one athletes' Olympic
village and one main host would not change.
"The unity of time, place and action, like a Greek drama, cannot
change," he said.
"But if two countries are sharing a mountain, why not share a
bid? You can also have in the Winter Games a city or a region
that can provide 95 percent of the facilities, but that the five
percent are missing. Why not then to open the door for them
(another city or country)?"
The last joint bid submitted to the IOC was from Poland's
Krakow, which had some competitions planned in neighboring
Slovakia in its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics before pulling
out earlier this year.
"If you have a smaller country which does not have a lake for
sailing why not go to a neighboring country," Bach said.
"It would still be a bid of the city but could be complemented
by other partners."
Former Olympic skiing champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch said such a
change would be good for the Games.
"It is a question of organization," Hoefl-Riesch told Reuters.
"We have seen it in football with joint organizers. Why not? It
will still be one Olympic city with another staging part of the
competition. It makes absolute sense."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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