Paris, LA face Games battle

THE International Olympic Committee has voted in favour of awarding the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games at the same session, pending agreements with Paris and Los Angeles.

Paris and Los Angeles are the only two cities left in the 2024 race and the IOC will next seek a “tripartite” agreement with the two cities.

It could mean either that one city will accept the 2028 Games before the session in September or that each city would be willing to accept 2028 if it is not awarded the 2024 Games.

Should there be no threeway agreement, then the vote at their session in Lima, Peru, on September 13 would be a straightforward selection of only the 2024 host city, the IOC said.

It is a blow to Brisbane and the southeast of Queensland — as well as countries such as Russia, Malaysia and Singapore — which had flagged interest in bidding for the 2028 edition.

The announcement came only hours after US President Donald Trump tweeted that he was working hard to get the Olympics in LA.

Now the weight of negotiations will fall to the political and administrative leadership of Paris 2024 and LA 2024 and specifically to the two mayors who would sign host city contracts — LA’s Eric Garcetti and Paris’s Anne Hidalgo. The two already have a good rapport, chiefly from their work on climate change issues.

The privately run committee behind LA’s bid has organised dozens of flashy, celebrity-studded events to show- case public support for making Los Angeles a three-time Olympic city, after hosting the 1932 and 1984 Games. But there were no fireworks yesterday after the IOC made its announcement.

“Big step forward but more work to do,” Jeff Millman, a spokesman for the group, said in an email after being asked about the absence of a public event to mark the occasion.

The city’s bid committee has argued there is overwhelming support for bringing the Games back to LA. It has spent millions of dollars staging events to stoke excitement.

“We have such enthusiasm in our city,” Garcetti said. “We are in love with the Olympics.”

A 2028 Olympics in Southern California would be the first American-hosted games since 1996 in Atlanta.