Populist surge impacting on Olympics image

The anti-establishment surge that led to Brexit and Donald Trump becoming US President has also impacted on bids to host the Olympic Games, British Olympic chief Hugh Robertson told AFP in an interview on Monday.

There has been much debate about the health of the Olympics brand with just two bidders left in the race for the 2024 Summer Games -- Paris and Los Angeles.

Rome and Budapest dropped out due to a perceived lack of popular support to host them.

Robertson, a former Conservative lawmaker who was Sports Minister in the lead-up to and during the 2012 London Games, said the present political mood did not see the Olympics in a favourable light.

"All political cycles rise and fall and we are in a period where establishments are on the back foot," the British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman told AFP.

"You've seen that whether it be Brexit, Trump and also look at what is happening to a lesser extent in Germany and a greater extent in France, indeed right across Europe.

"This won't last for ever. There are establishments for good reasons. It's not because people want to club together and protect themselves as is commonly held to be the case at the moment.

source: AFP