Fight for 2024 Games set to go to the wire

THE fight between Los Angeles and Paris to host t he 2024 Summer Oly mpic Games is set to go to t he wire af ter t he head of the IOC’s inspection team heaped lav ish praise on both cit ies.

Patrick Baumann said neither city presented a risk, saying it came e down to a choice of the 95 members of the Internationernational Olympic Committee mmittee (IOC) between “two d i f f e r e n t visions” on howw the Summerr G a m e s b e held.

B a u m a n n also refused to be drawn on whether t h e c o n f i r med presence at the decisive vote in Lima on Sepptember 13 of newly installed ed French President Emmanuel Macron could hand Paris the advantage should US counterpart Donald Trump not be present for Los Angeles. Baumann did say, however, that Macron’s presence would mean the Paris bid enjoys “visual and tangible” support from both the government and country.coun “We’re fortunate that we have two city candidates who do not present majorma r isks that w we’ve been able to highlight to host t h e O l y mp i c Games,” Baumann added at his team’s closing press conference in Paris, which last hosted theth Olympics in 1924,1 Los Angeles in 1984. “Both cities have theth Olympic tradi- tion, both cities have the venues we need, both cities have very dedicated and motivated teams that want to lead that.”

But Baumann added: “Both cities are different. These two cities have the capacity to organise the Games.

“But these cities, because they’re in different countries with different cultures, have differing visions. It’s one of the key elements. IOC members will have to choose between one vision or the other.”

Baumann (pictured, AFP) insisted that it did not matter whether the respective delegations were “made up of X or Y” when asked about Trump, but at the same time he praised his team’s meeting with Macron, saying that it showed “strong, solid support” from all strata of French public authorities.

Los Angeles bid chairman Casey Wasserman has admitted they are cautious about a s k i n g Tr u mp t o L i ma, recounting the “very bad” stories from the 2009 vote in Copenhagen when some IOC members were said to be furious to be kept waiting outside the venue while the then US president Barack Obama’s security detail swept the building having flown in to give his support to Chicago. It was said to have cost Chicago votes.

“Emmanuel Macron told Patrick Baumann that he would definitely be in Lausanne for the IOC’s debriefing and also in Lima on September 13,” said Paris bid team member Guy Drut, France’s 110m hurdle champion at the 1976 Games.

Macron’s commitment to securing the Games was underlined by his one-hour meeting with the IOC taking place just two days after his inauguration as French president.

“This is evidence of commitment. It is not just a word, there is a unity up to the highest level of the state,” suggested Paris 2024 Co-President Bernard Lapasset, former head of rugby union’s governing body the IRB, now World Rugby.

“This could help our candidacy, for sure – the new presi de nt , w ho r e c e i v e s t he commission just two days after his nomination, and who is the same age as our co-president Tony Estanguet.”

Baumann, whose team publish their report in Lausanne on July 5, said that the “marriage between the Games and Paris was absolutely obvious”.

Ever the diplomat, the Swiss head of the world basketball federation added: “The bid team responded to all our questions – all our remarks, as was the case in Los Angeles last week.”

The two bid cities will next be in action when they are called up to present their candidacies to the wider IOC on July 11-12 before decamping to Lima for the decisive vote.