TIL Desk Sports/ Budapest ended its bid to host the 2024 Olympics on Wednesday, citing a lack of unity after a political movement opposing the move collected more than a quarter of a million signatures to force a referendum on the issue. Running alongside powerhouses Los Angeles and Paris, Budapest had been considered a long-shot candidate, pinning its hopes on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Agenda 2020 initiative aimed at promoting less lavish events.
The bid had turned into a political issue, however, a year before the country holds parliamentary elections. Polls showed a growing number of Hungarians were against the bid, and a group of young professionals and students took to the streets and began campaigning for a referendum.
This “Momentum” movement considered a bid for the Games an unaffordable splurge that would invite corruption, already a big problem in the central European country. Budapest’s City Council voted formally on Wednesday to annul the bid and ask the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) to notify the IOC about the withdrawal.
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