San Diego Mayor Bob Filner said he wanted to pursue a joint Olympics bid with Mexico even after he was informed by the United States Olympic Committee that international rules prevent the two countries from doing so.
The Associated Press reported the bid “appeared dead before arrival Tuesday” because the “U.S. Olympic Committee said international rules don’t allow two countries to mount a joint candidacy.”
Filner, a Democrat who was a former Congressman, seems intent on still going forward with the bid with Tijuana. A San Diego-Tijuana Olympics would also cause massive border security problems and create many hurdles for law enforcement officials as well.
According to USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky, Christopher Sullivan, the USOC’s chief of protocol and bids, informed Filner’s team that the “International Olympic Committee charter doesn’t allow for bordering countries to host Summer Games.”
Even though the USOC spokesman said, “there’s no opportunity for them to bid together,” Filner said he was “undaunted.”
“The true spirit of the Olympics embodies my conviction that we should vigorously pursue the dream of having two countries host the Olympics in the greatest bi-national region of the world. Rules and bylaws can be changed,” he said this weekend. “Even if we lose, we win.”
Filner and his Tijuana counterpart, Carlos Bustamante, were “prepared to name a cross-border planning committee within the next week and unveil a logo.”
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