BERLIN, June 28 (RIA Novosti, Taras Lariokhin) - A former mayor of Berlin, Eberhard Diepgen, said he was certain Moscow could successfully host the 2012 Olympics if the International Olympic Committee selected it.
Diepgen is a representative of the German initiative group in support of Moscow's candidacy to host the 2012 Olympics.
The former mayor said at a news conference held at the Russian Embassy in Berlin Tuesday that he knew Moscow very well since it had close partnership relations with the German capital.
He wished Moscow the best of luck at the IOC vote on the host city in Singapore on July 6.
Paris, Madrid, New York and London are the other cities vying for the right to host the XXX Summer Olympics. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov will deliver a speech in English in Singapore.
Vladmir Platonov, the speaker of the Moscow City Duma, told the news conference that Moscow was ready to host the Olympics.
"It will be exactly 100 years in 2012 since Russia first participated in the Olympics," Platonov said. "It would be symbolic if Moscow were to receive the right to host the Games."
According to him, Muscovites have not only maintained all the facilities from the 1980 Olympics, but have also built many new ones.
"Moscow already has 65% of the required sporting facilities," he said. According to him, 15 new sports facilities will be built, including two 50,000-seater soccer stadiums.
The Olympics village, which will house about 20,000 people, will be located in the northwest of Moscow, Platonov added.
