This is the second part of The Sofia Echo’s interview with Svetla Ozetova, Vice President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee and the Sofia 2014 Bid.
Q: Why is it so important for Bulgaria to participate in the Olympic Games bid?
A: In the run-up to the Candidate City shortlist announcement on June 22, it was very satisfying to hear that so many different parties support our bid. They believe it is a strong bid and that there are tremendous benefits from participating in the bid process. It is essential for us to build all the sport facilities needed for hosting such a great event, whatever the International Olympic Committee decides. Sofia needs a new skating rink, and I am sure that all the newly built facilities in our capital are going to be used by the citizens long after the Olympic Games themselves. This is one of the strongest points of the Sofia 2014 bid. Recently I had the opportunity to visit Lillehammer, the Winter Olympic city of Norway, and I was truly impressed by their skating rink. However, I realised that the facility, as impressive as it is, has no further importance to the town. Lillehammer is a very small town and people could not use all the sport venues. In Sofia we have just the opposite problem - there are not enough places for people to practice their favourite winter sports. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find investors because most of them are private companies. Perhaps we need strong PR campaigns and as many positive advertisements as possible.
Q: These are among the steps that Bulgaria will take if Sofia is included in the shortlist on June 22, not so?
A: Yes, that’s right. Although some of the steps we are talking about are already included in the principal city planning, which in fact is not approved yet by the authorities. I’d prefer to think more about the Olympic Games as a strong reason for our plans to be implemented.
Q: You said that this first evaluation of Bulgaria’s candidacy is done only at expert level. Are there any indications yet what to expect?
A: None. Their rules are very strict in this regard, and experts stick to them with no exceptions. I have many contacts with members of the International Olympic Committee but they are accustomed to obeying the rules and do not let slip a word.
Q: Is there any chance of a negative impact on the bid because of the rows between former BOC head Ivan Slavko and IOC chief Jacques Rogge?
A: No, absolutely not. In my personal contacts and conversations with high-level members of the IOC, I detected no negative sentiment in this regard. In fact, this story touched ourselves more than people from other countries. Nobody says ‘you did some bad things in the past’ though it may be justified to say so. Of far greater importance are concerns about corruption in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, after this very first stage we shall a very different attitude to our candidacy. After June 22, we cross the borders of sport and we face the real politics. Bulgaria is going to be assessed from a political point of view.
Q: So, if Bulgaria joins the European Union without any delay, we could rely on a positive reaction?
A: Yes, that’s right. Bulgarian accession to the EU would be a great signal for our candidacy. And the opposite applies - any rejection or delay could have a negative influence on the bid.
Q: At the same time, what is the situation with the co-ordination among Bulgarian institutions and sports authorities?
A: At the very beginning, there was no such co-ordination. When Olympic Bid committee was established, Sofia had no mayor and Bulgaria had no cabinet and no government. We had some difficulties until everything went in the proper direction. The fact that I am, at the same tiome, time vice-president of Bulgarian Olympic Committee and vice-president of our Olympic bid, shows that we have really good co-ordination. We work perfectly well with the State Agency for Youth and Sports and its president vesela Lecheva. In fact she is our liaison with the government and we have no problems in this regard.
Q: What is the implication of discussions such as that held with the business community at the Sofia Sport Expo?
A:It was a tremendous discussion and of great benefit to our bid. It was amazing to be able to hear so many different viewpoints about the bid. Advertising the bid is very important. Everybody talks about Bansko, Borovets and Sofia, and this serves as great advertising for Bulgaria around the world, and costs very little. The real benefit for our country will be the long-term job creation. Moreover, Bansko and Borovets have already become very important ski centres in Europe. It’s a little more difficult with regard to Sofia, because it is the capital city, and has many other problems. I am sure that if Sofia were a small town, it would be far more motivated. Recently I was in Rotterdam, where I visited the mayor in regard to a project, and he said that the main business investments in the city were directed to sport. Here in Bulgaria, we have set up the Sofia Sport Organisation with the city’s mayor, Boiko Borissov, as its chief representative.
Q: Do we have the know-how to organise the Games?
A: Yes, we have some very experienced people who can do the whole organisation. The real issue is how is going to be done - the expenses, arranging the means and services, and the final control. There is enough time to 2014 and we have to show that we can organise such big events. It’s also very important for us to work with famous Bulgarian sport champions such as Petar Popangelov, who is part of our committee. He has already played a key role in the previous meeting of the professional Skiing Committee that approved Bansko and Borovets as highly modern winter resorts. It’s also very important to include our ice skating champions, Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski. We hope we can do some great work together.
