Moscow bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics

Moscow 2012 was one of the five short-listed bids for the 2012 Summer Games, and was to be held in Moscow, Russia. The capital city's Olympic plans were to build on top of the legacy created after the 1980 Summer Olympics. Moscow's River Plan called for every single competition to be staged within city limits, which made the city's proposal one of the most compact ever. All existing venues were to have been extensively renovated and more venues were planned to be constructed in time for the Olympics. A new, modern athletes village would have been constructed on the Moscow River, which was the centerpiece and core of the city's Olympic bid. Despite the high support from the entire nation and invaluable experience, Moscow's bid suffered from a lack of accommodation and an older transport system which may not have been able to cope with the expected traffic from the Olympics. Moscow was seen as the dark horse to win the nomination for the Olympics.

Moscow was eliminated in the first round of the ballot to select a host city at the 117th IOC sitting on June 6, 2005 in Singapore.

Two years later, the Russian city of Sochi won the bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

International Olympic Committee evaluation report

The International Olympic Committee gave the Moscow bid the highest level of criticism compared to the other four candidates. The following is an excerpt from their report:

Moscow proposes a memorable experience for all athletes with minimal travel times to venues. This would occur in a country which is establishing itself as the "New Russia." Current levels of some air pollutants are a concern but are improving. The budgeting process follows IOC guidelines. While low in sports venue operations, the budget appears to be reasonable and achievable. While Moscow has good sports experience and a high number of existing competition venues, the bid committee has not presented detailed design and operational plans or a detailed construction schedule. Although planning lacked detail, the Commission believes that the Moscow 2012 village concept is feasible. A lack of detailed planning in the candidature file and background information made it difficult for the Commission to evaluate the project.