Azerbaijan to bid for 2016 Olympics

Azerbaijan will bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said. "We will do everything possible to succeed with our 2016 bid but if not, we hope to bid again in 2020," Aliyev, who also heads the country's national Olympic committee,...

Azerbaijan will bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said.

"We will do everything possible to succeed with our 2016 bid but if not, we hope to bid again in 2020," Aliyev, who also heads the country's national Olympic committee, was quoted as saying.

Azerbaijan has never hosted a major sporting event since gaining independence following the Soviet break-up at the end of 1991.

The US, Italy, India, Japan, Brazil and Spain have also expressed an interest in staging the Summer Games in 2016, with the IOC planning to choose the host city in 2009.

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