Madrid mayoress' poor Olympic bid English used on adverts for language schools

Although probably not part of the International Olympic Committee's decision to exclude Spain in the first round of voting, Botella's speech in English – written phonetically by public speech advisor Terence Burns, from the USA – has become the subject of ridicule throughout the country and the infamous line about enjoying 'a relaxing cup of café con leche in the Plaza Mayor' has gone viral.

Botella, who says the Madrid 2020 accounts will be liquidated and published, and which will be used to fund public services and help create employment as spokesman for the opposition Jaime Lissavetsky said they should be at the time, is not taking this too personally.

“I understand this country's sense of humour and often laugh at myself about it, too,” revealed Botella, who was hopeful of securing the Games at the third consecutive attempt to put her in a favourable light for the 2015 local elections.

But she is not laughing so hard about the fact that her faux pas in English is being used in adverts by the State-funded Official Language Schools (Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas, or EOIs) to attract students and call for more funding to ensure their future is safe.

The EOI headquarters in Madrid has displayed posters inside – although not outdoors – bearing Botella's photo and slogans such as, 'You haven't been told about it – you've heard it yourself: Official Language Schools, more necessary than ever, just in case you were in any doubt'.

Botella (PP), wife of former right-wing Spanish president José María Aznar, was caught on camera giving an unrelated answer to a question in English posed by an American member of the Olympic Committee.

Mindful of the fact that Spain's Olympic project would be run on a shoestring, compared to Tokyo's 45 billion dollars invested purely for the Games, Botella was asked whether it was sensible government policy attempting to host the event when unemployment was at 27 per cent and the country was buckling under the weight of high taxes, enforced austerity measures and drastic cuts in funding for basic public services.

Instead of putting on her simultaneous interpretation headphones, which would have allowed Botella to hear the question and answer to it in Spanish, she decided to impress the Committee by pretending she could understand it.

Replying in Spanish, the mayoress of Madrid said the city had 90 per cent of the necessary Olympic infrastructure in place, and that 'this could be a new way of presenting a candidature', by having '80 per cent of the infrastructure' already set up.

Aside from giving two different figures in the same sentence, she missed a crucial opportunity to justify the Madrid 2020 bid against the odds presented by lack of funds.

Another EOI advertising poster was headed up with the deliberately-mistranslated phrase in English, 'No listen the ask' – No escuchar la pregunta, in Spanish, which translates literally into the nonsensical slogan but correctly as 'not listening to the question'.

The final poster is headed up, Blanco y en botella, referring to the mayoress and Spanish Olympic Committee president Alejandro Blanco, but which could also translate as 'blank and in a bottle', and says: “Official Language Schools: So you can communicate, sell your product and not make yourself look ridiculous.”

Madrid tried out for, and lost, the honour of hosting the 1972 Olympics at its bid in 1960, and more recently, made three consecutive attempts to hold the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Games.

The city lost out to London, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo respectively.

If Madrid went ahead with a bid for the 2024 Games, it would be up against strong candidates such as Paris and Berlin.

Botella does not believe Madrid can compete with these.

“The only location in Spain which could would be Barcelona,” admitted the mayoress, referring to the north-eastern city, Spain's second-largest, which has already hosted the Games, in 1992.

In admitting that Madrid would not be bidding again in the foreseeable future, Botella said they would, however, support 'any other Spanish city' which decided to do so.