体坛英语新闻：Romania's bid for 2020 Winter Youth Olympics hampered by traffic problems: mayor

BUCHAREST, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Romania's bid to host the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics has been hampered by the traffic problems, said on Friday George Scripcariu, mayor of Brasov, a winter sports city in the centre of the country.

"We were disadvantaged by one thing," the mayor told local media, explaining that the transportation from the capital city of Bucharest to the host city of Brasov became a major obstacle.

"We had proposed as a prospect, by 2020, the motorway and the airport, but those who live elsewhere doubted that the likelihood of advancing these projects was good enough," said the mayor.

The distance between Brasov and Bucharest is some 170 km, but the road connecting the two is not the motorway. In addition, there is no airport in Brasov. There are projects to construct the highway and the airport, but no one knows when they could start and when completed.

Lausanne, the Swiss city where the International Olympic Committee is based, was chosen on Friday as the host of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, to the detriment of Brasov, the only other candidate city, during the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The 2020 Winter Youth Olympics will be jointly organized together with France's Tuffes a Premanon resort.