AZERBAIJAN HOPING TO HOST 2016 SUMMER OLYMPICS

Sporting News
April 9 2007

MASALLY, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijan wants to host the 2016 Summer
Olympics, President Ilham Aliev said Monday.

"A few years ago we would not have thought of this, but today
the country’s sports potential and the growing economic might of
Azerbaijan allows us to do so," said Aliev, who was in Masally to
open a sports complex.

Azerbaijan has built 11 Olympic-grade sports facilities since 2000
and is building or planning 14 more, Aliev said.

The nation receives revenue from abundant oil and gas resources from
the Caspian Sea, but is locked in a dispute with neighboring Armenia
over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous area controlled by Armenian
forces since the end of a six-year war in 1994.

Bid cities must submit a letter of interest to the International
Olympic Committee by Sept. 15. The host city will be chosen in 2009.

Other expected bidders are Chicago, Rome, Tokyo, Madrid, Spain and
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP)

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