Spain’s king receives organizers of Madrid Olympic bid

Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Crown Prince Felipe on Tuesday received the organizers of Madrid’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2020 Olympics in an event at Zarzuela Palace that also served as a celebration of Spanish tennis great Rafa Nadal’s triumph in the U.S. Open.

Felipe was the first to remind everyone of Nadal’s victory Monday in New York, as he greeted the secretary of state for sport, Miguel Cardenal, who, smiling under the circumstances, said “at least we’ve brought a little joy.”

Cardenal was one of those who tried hardest to keep smiling among the four Madrid 2020 representatives received at the Zarzuela.

Joining Cardenal were capital Mayor Ana Botella, Madrid regional president Ignacio Gonzalez and Spanish Olympic Committee head Alejandro Blanco, who looked very serious from the outset.

The king greeted his guests with a smile, asked Botella if all the representatives of the Olympic candidacy had returned to Madrid, and very effusively hugged Blanco, with whom he exchanged a few relaxed comments.

The king and prince then posed to have their picture taken with the four, and Juan Carlos invited them into his office.

The Madrid 2020 delegation returned to the capital emptyhanded last Sunday following the defeat of their Olympic bid at the IOC meeting in Buenos Aires, after which the prince, as honorary chair of the organizing committee, expressed publicly his thanks to all who had worked on behalf of the project and evinced optimism despite this “little setback.”

The International Olympic Committee voted to award the 2020 Games to Tokyo.