肯尼亚力争成为非洲第一个奥运主办国

Kenya will bid to become the first African nation to host the Olympic Games in 2024, Raila Odinga, the country's prime minister, has said.

肯尼亚总理拉伊拉•奥廷加(Raila Odinga)表示，肯尼亚将申办2024年奥运会，力争成为非洲第一个举办奥运会的国家。

In an interview with the Financial Times in London, Mr Odinga said Africa's time to host the games had come. The sub-Saharan region's trillion-dollar economy was set to boom during the next decade, he said. For Kenya, east Africa's leading economy, hosting the Olympics would bring a psychological boost as well as "enormous benefits" in terms of investment in infrastructure.

在伦敦接受采访时，奥廷加表示，非洲国家举办奥运会的时候到了。他还说，撒哈拉沙漠以南地区规模达到万亿的经济在未来十年将繁荣发展。对于东非主要经济体肯尼亚来说，举办奥运会不仅会带来精神上的鼓励，也会在基础设施投资上获得"巨大收益"。

"Kenya had the confidence as far back as 1968 to consider bidding for the Olympics," he said. But in 2004, when the idea was raised again, local newspapers scoffed, illustrating the drift Kenya experienced after the heady days of independence in 1963.

他说："早在1968年的时候，肯尼亚就已经有信心申办奥运会。"但2004年当这个想法再次被提起的时候，当地报纸却冷嘲热讽，并指出1963年独立后肯尼亚确实经历了一段令人振奋的时期，但之后的发展方向就发生了偏离。

"That is the spirit we need to recapture. We need to bring back that confidence and say we can do it. It is necessary to take a look back at where we are coming from and where we want to go, because we have been drifting for too long," he said, alluding to the decades of stagnation and misrule under the autocratic Daniel arap Moi.

奥廷加说："我们需要重新找回这样的精神。我们需要重拾信心，我们可以做到。追根溯源、寻找未来方向对于我们来说非常必要，因为很长时间以来我们都偏离了方向。"他指的是肯尼亚独裁者丹尼尔•阿拉普•莫伊(Daniel arap Moi)执政时期数十年的经济停滞和暴政。

A Kenyan bid would be welcomed by the International Olympic Committee but early indications are that it would face stiff competition. The IOC is expecting a strong pitch from US cities, including New York and San Francisco, now that a longstanding disagreement over the division of television and sponsorship revenues has been settled.

肯尼亚申奥将受到国际奥委会(IOC)欢迎，但初步迹象已经表明肯尼亚将面临激烈的竞争。国际奥委会预计纽约和旧金山等美国城市将高调申奥，因为一项围绕电视和赞助收入分配的长期分歧如今已经解决。

Other countries thinking about bidding for 2024 include Argentina, Morocco and Egypt. A new bid from Doha, ejected from the 2020 race over scheduling concerns, is also expected.

正在考虑申请2024年奥运会的其他国家包括阿根廷、摩洛哥、埃及。由于安排问题而退出2020年申奥的多哈(Doha)也可能会再次申请。

The IOC said it was not aware of Kenya's interest but added: "The [IOC] president has made it absolutely clear that we would love a good bid from Africa."

国际奥委会表示不知道肯尼亚有意申请，但表示："（国际奥委会）主席已经非常明确地表示，欢迎非洲国家的申请。"

With five medals already in the bag at the London Olympics, Kenya is poised to rival South Africa as the most successful African country at the London games.

已经在伦敦奥运上收获五枚金牌的肯尼亚有可能超过南非，成为本届奥运会上收获最大的非洲国家。

Asked how he would sell the project, likely to cost as much as $15bn, to Kenyans, Mr Odinga pointed to the renaissance that cities such as Tokyo, Seoul, Atlanta and Mexico City had received when they hosted the games.

在被问及如何让肯尼亚人接受成本可能高达150亿美元的奥运会时，奥廷加提到了东京、首尔、亚特兰大、墨西哥城等举办过奥运的城市所经历的复兴。