One of Italy’s greatest athletes has questioned Rome’s plan to bid for the 2020 Olympics amid the country’s ongoing economic crisis.

“It’s unthinkable to try and organise the 2020 Games,” former 200-metre world record holder Pietro Mennea said in an interview with Corriere della Sera on Thursday.

“We’re a nation devastated by a scary economic crisis. How could we think about proposing something like this now?”

Mennea’s 200-metre world record of 19.72 seconds was set in Mexico City in 1979. It lasted 17 years until Michael Johnson ran 19.66 at the 1996 US Olympic trials. Mennea also won the 200 at the 1980 Moscow Games.

Now 59, Mennea is a lawyer and former member of the European Parliament.

His comments came during a week rife with speculation that Italy’s new government is considering delaying the bid to aim for the 2024 Games instead.

“Zero-cost Olympics don’t exist,” Mennea said. “The real priorities of the country lie elsewhere. … If Rome skips 2020 that doesn’t mean it can’t organise the games ever again.”

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said Mennea’s comments come from someone who hasn’t read the bid dossier, which includes a plan to use many venues from the 1960 Rome Games, including the 80,000-seat Stadio Olimpico and surrounding Foro Italico complex.

“With all the respect I have toward him, I think in this case he would have done well to measure his words better,” Alemanno told the ANSA news agency.

“If you haven’t seen the dossier and the papers it’s difficult to offer opinions. … The majority of Italian sportsmen are supportive.”

Also bidding for 2020 are Madrid; Tokyo; Istanbul; Doha, Qatar; and Baku, Azerbaijan.

The International Olympic Committee requires bid cities to provide government financial guarantees. Detailed bid plans must be submitted to the IOC by February 15.

The IOC will select the host city in Buenos Aires in September 2013.