Honourable President Bach, President Hickey, President Borkai, President Schmitt, Olympic Athletes and Prospective Olympic Athletes, Guests, Friends and Fellow Competitors,
 
Allow me to welcome the members of the international Olympic family to Budapest, on the birthday of the Hungarian Olympic Committee. I wish to thank President Bach for having mentioned my sports background, which presents me with the opportunity to tell you that we shall always be behind you; we, who did not make it all the way to the Olympic stage, but without whom – the anonymous hundreds of thousands who have big hearts but less in the way of talent – there are no Olympic gold medals.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Furthermore, based on the experience I have gained in my line of business, I can tell you that you may be assured that those things which one cannot learn in the changing rooms are perhaps not worth learning at all.
 
Honourable President,
 
Due to our unique language and way of thinking, we Hungarians are often looked upon as the most easterly western country, or – seen from the other side – as the most westerly eastern country. One thing is certain, however: sport is a language for the Hungarian people which represents a bridge to the other the peoples of the world.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
When great and sensational stories begin to unfold, somehow we Hungarians always immediately find ourselves in the thick of events. This was the case in 1848, when we stood up to fight for our freedom; this was the case in 1956 and 1990, when we hammered the first and last nails into the coffin of the dictatorship and the Soviet Union. And this was also the case when the most exciting and most successful story in modern-day sports history began: the Olympic movement. We Hungarians are a great Olympic nation. This is borne out by the fact that one of the signatures on the International Olympic Committee’s founding document of 1894 is that of a Hungarian sports expert, Baron Ferenc Kemény. We are an Olympic nation because our forefathers set up the Hungarian Olympic Committee in the year after establishment of the International Olympic Committee. And we are an Olympic nation because we also took part in the first modern Olympic Games, in Athens in 1896. Not only did we take part in those Olympics, but we won two gold medals there. We are an Olympic nation because we are usually among the most successful countries. With our 167 gold medals, we are ranked eighth among the 206 nations in the all-time Olympic medals table. And, finally, we are an Olympic nation because our champions occupy a very special place in the hearts of the Hungarian people. They represent true treasures to us, which we continue to cherish to this day. Hungary is grateful to its Olympic athletes, and this is why it continues to support them today. We do not forget that there were times – difficult times – when they kept the hope alive in the hearts of an oppressed Hungarian people. They kept our national feelings awake. They reminded us of the importance of self-esteem, and they also reminded us that we – an oppressed, occupied and plundered Hungarian people – are also not just anybody.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Over the past 120 years the Olympic Games have become a true passion of the Hungarian people. This passion has developed because the Olympic ideal represents a pure form of freedom, which was a rare treasure here in Central Europe. The Olympic Games stand for fair and sporting competition, in which every nation has equal chances of winning. We wish to express our appreciation and gratitude to the leaders of the International Olympic Committee for the fact that this principle is now upheld not only on the sports field, but also in the competition for the right to host the Olympics. This mentality is reflected in the plan which the International Olympic Committee laid down in the “AGENDA 2020” programme. I see this document as having brought within our reach a dream which is as old as the Hungarian Olympic Committee itself. This dream is about the ambitious plan for the Olympic flame to be lit in Budapest in 2024. AGENDA 2020 has paved the way in the competition to host the Olympic Games for countries and cities which have thus far only ever had a slender chance when bidding against strong large metropolises. AGENDA 2020 may finally put an end to the practice in which hosting the Olympic Games is the privilege of the twenty largest countries. This is an historic opportunity.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Hungary and Budapest are today ready to seize the opportunity created by the International Olympic Committee. We are able to seize this opportunity because there is a broad national consensus behind the Hungarian Olympic Committee. This is a plan which is supported by eighty per cent of the Hungarian parliament, ninety per cent of Budapest City Council, and one hundred per cent of the members of the Hungarian Olympic Committee; and so we have every reason to call this a nationwide cause. The Hungarian government therefore fully supports the Hungarian Olympic Committee, which has taken the lead on this national cause. At the same time, Hungary sees sport as being more important than any political interest, and as something which should never become an arena for political struggles. It is in this spirit that the Hungarian government supports Budapest’s bid to host the Olympic Games. As a result, Honourable President, in every respect the Budapest Olympic bid has the necessary “gold reserves”. In recent years Hungary has hosted a number of prominent international sporting events to the highest standards, and this will also be the case over the next few years. In 2017 we will host the World Aquatics Championships and the World Judo Championships, while the city of Győr will be the venue of the European Youth Olympic Festival. The Honourable President cannot say this himself because he is Mayor of Győr, and also the President of the Olympic Committee in Hungary; as such, he must remain neutral. But the truth is that the Government has fully equipped the city through support for a swimming complex, sports, organisational expenses, and perhaps at some point a smaller-scale Olympic village as well.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Szeged is preparing for the 2019 Canoe Sprint World Championships; and in 2020 one of the host cities of the European Football Championship will be Budapest: a city which has recently recovered its feet, and is once again showing off its former splendour in ever more ways. Like a truly professional coach, the Mayor of Budapest has succeeded in bringing the city to top form. Budapest is the embodiment of Hungary’s success: it was so at the time of its birth, and today in its full bloom it is once again. Budapest is today repeatedly shown to be among the most successful cities in Central Europe.
 
Honourable Guests,
 
Budapest is a multi-faceted, safe city where an entertainment quarter packed with young people peacefully exists side by side with one of Europe’s most beautiful academies of music. It is a city in which everything is within convenient reach, and where, even at night, visitors need have no concerns about making it safely back to their accommodation. Budapest is a diverse, friendly metropolis. Those who live here understand and accept the thoughts and ideals of others, and are able to stand up for one another in order to attain ambitious goals. Choosing Budapest, Dear Guests, would not only place a new city and a new country on the map of the Olympic Games, but an entire new region. We would like to host not merely the first Olympic Games in Budapest, but the first in Central Europe.
 
You should consider that by 2024 it will have been thirty-five years since we shook off the chains of oppression and recovered our freedom. A generation after the beginning of that great change, a Central European Olympiad would be a worthy culmination to this historic process. Therefore when Budapest submits its bid to host the Olympic Games, it enters the ring not only as a representative of the Hungarian people, but of an entire region. It will be a great pleasure to acknowledge that, 128 years after the first modern-era Olympic Games – after North and South America, Asia and Australia, Western, Eastern and Southern Europe – in the 21st century the opportunity finally emerged for us to host the first Central European Olympic Games.
 
Honourable President,
 
God bless the 120-year-old Hungarian Olympic Committee! God bless the members of the Hungarian Olympic family, and on behalf of all Hungarians I gratefully thank you for all the joyous and victorious moments which you have given to the Hungarian people.
 
Go for it Hungary, Go for it Hungarians!
 

Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister