New York City unveils final venue plan for Olympic bid

The committee spearheading New York City's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games revealed an adjusted and final venue plan on Thursday.

The plan consists of three venue clusters that will "add efficiency and convenience to the original plan and will be the basis for New York's bid book submission due to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in November this year," said the committee in a press release.

The main venue is Olympic Square on the proposed West Side of Manhattan. During the Games, it would host the opening and closing ceremonies and track and field events.

Fencing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling will be held at the Javits Center and basketball at the Madison Square Garden.

The second venue cluster includes the Olympic Park and the new Flushing Pool, where archery, rowing, slalom and whitewater canoeing, tennis and water polo events will be held.

Another cluster is the Olympic River, straddling the Harlem River in the Bronx and Manhattan, consists venues for baseball, boxing, track cycling and badminton.

Earlier this year, designs were unveiled for an Olympic Village on the Queens waterfront, across the East River from the United Nations. It would house 16,000 athletes, coaches and team officials and it would be converted into apartments after the games.

"We are proud of this tremendous venue plan that will strengthen our bid for the Olympic Games in 2012 and enrich the legacy that the Games will leave for our city," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Daniel Dcotoroff, Deputy Mayor for economic development and rebuilding and founder of the New York 2012 biding committee, said the revised venue plan responds to the concerns of the IOC and has dramatically improved New York's bid.

The city is competing with Paris, London, Moscow and Madrid for the 2012 Summer Games.

Source: Xinhua