Zabell: Madrid ready to peak on IOC vote D-Day

Spain's two-time Olympic yachting gold medalist Theresa Zabell is hoping the huge momentum Madrid has accrued in recent months in the race to host the 2020 Summer Olympics will see them peak the day of the vote on September 7, she told AFP. The 48-year-old -- the bid's energetic international chief executive -- added that her experience in training for the Olympics in reaching her peak condition on race days had proved invaluable. Madrid, bidding for the third successive time after finishing third and second for the 2012 and 2016 Games respectively, Istanbul, with the strongest of their five bids, and Tokyo, the only one to have previously hosted the Games in 1964, will learn their fate when the 100-plus International Olympic Committee (IOC) members vote in Buenos Aires. "September 7th is when we have to peak," said Zabell, speaking in Moscow on the eve of the athletics world championships. "You have to peak on D-Day. We know we will have to be perfect. Six months ago we knew we were less strong but we have built momentum. "This is similar to my Olympic Games preparations where I trained so that I would be ready on competition day itself. "The only difference here is that you cannot measure yourself against your opponent. "Olympians could because you would go to an international regatta and come back and say we were not good in the light wind and be able to assess your good and weak points. "Here it is an emotional rollercoaster. Some days you feel great, others you feel bad. Sometimes it is best to put your hands over your ears." Zabell, who won gold in the 470 class at her then home of Barcelona in 1992 and retained the title four years later, said the momentum had been building inexorably since the IOC's Evaluation Commission published its report in June. Crucially Spain's crippling financial crisis was not an issue in the report, who said the Madrid bid's budgetary plans were feasible. This had been followed by, according to several IOC members, an outstanding presentation to most of the IOC members in Lausanne in early July with Crown Prince Felipe -- the heir to the Spanish throne -- producing a standout performance. "The report was really good for us and our first real boost because we could show the IOC members on the Commission that our statements about 80% of the venues already built was a fact and that athletes would have trips of just 20 minutes from the venues to the Village. "Our budget is small which is something new for the Olympic Movement but as Craig Reedie (IOC vice-president and head of the Evaluation Commission) said you cannot make the Games bigger and bigger every time. "After that Lausanne was a great change in the momentum, as all the IOC members were together and we spoke to them directly. "The Crown Prince is not the sort of person who comes to something on a whim. He is an Olympian (he carried the Spanish flag at the opening ceremony in Barcelona) and is a very special person on our team." Zabell, who was born in England before moving to the Canary Islands, then Malaga, Barcelona and finally to Madrid, where she lives with her husband and two sons, said she was keen to give something back after the sporting success she had enjoyed. "When you have achieved your dream you are obliged to give something back to society," said Zabell. "Working on the bid is along those lines as you do such things for your society, city and country and hope that you realise the goal of bringing the Games to them and they benefit from it." Zabell says with the finishing line approaching and the momentum seemingly with them there would be no letting up. "What do you do in the final stretch? You sprint, and we have a lot of energy left." Source: AFP