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Paris set to stage first Olympics after 100 years IOC CROWNS FRENCH CITY AND LOS ANGELES IN UNIQUE DOUBLE

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DOUBLE DELIGHT back to the City of Angels.” Paris, with a Games budget of €6.8 billion ($8.09 billion), had failed with previous attempts to land the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

The LA Games have a budget of $5.3 billion and will essentiall­y follow the plan they had in place for 2024, including housing athletes at the UCLA campus.

Secure the future

Both Paris’s bid co-chair Tony Estanguet and LA bid chairman Casey Wasserman are to stay on and lead the host cities’ preparatio­ns, mayors Anne Hidalgo and Garcetti confirmed in a news conference after the announceme­nt.

It is the first time the IOC has awarded a Games 11 years in advance, as it traditiona­lly gives the next Olympic host city seven years to prepare.

The Olympic body, however, was eager to secure the future of its prime product after Boston, Budapest, Rome and Hamburg all pulled the plug on their 2024 bids mid-race.

Bach said the unanimous IOC decision would secure the future of the Games and ensure successful Olympics.

“It is hard to imagine something better. Ensuring the stability of the Olympic Games for the athletes of the world for the next 11 years is something extraordin­ary,” he said.

Both the 2014 winter Games in Russia’s Sochi and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics were mired in controvers­y over corruption, embezzleme­nt and doping allegation­s, dealing a major blow to the reputation­s of the event and the IOC.

Tokyo, the host of the next summer Games in 2020, has also had to fend off allegation­s of corruption regarding the decision to award it the Games four years ago.

 ?? Reuters ?? From left: Tony Estanguet, Anne Hidalgo, Thomas Bach, Eric Garcetti and Casey Wasserman pose for a selfie during a press conference in Lima, Peru.
Reuters From left: Tony Estanguet, Anne Hidalgo, Thomas Bach, Eric Garcetti and Casey Wasserman pose for a selfie during a press conference in Lima, Peru.
 ?? AFP ?? Thomas Bach poses for pictures with Anne Hidalgo and Eric Garcetti on Wednesday.
AFP Thomas Bach poses for pictures with Anne Hidalgo and Eric Garcetti on Wednesday.

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