The race for the right to host the 2024 Olympics heats up this week as the International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission visits Los Angeles ahead of a crunch vote in September.
A look at the key questions surrounding the battle for the greatest sporting show on Earth:
– Who’s running? –
It’s a straight fight between Los Angeles and Paris. Los Angeles is bidding to host the Games for a third time after staging the Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
Paris is hoping to win the right to host the Games exactly 100 years after last staging the event in 1924. The French capital lost out to Beijing and London in bids for the 2008 and 2012 Summer Games.
– Why are there only two bidders? –
The vast scale of the Olympics has proved to be an effective deterrent for cities hoping to stage the games. Five cities bid for the 2012 Games. Four cities bid for the 2016 Games and three cities bid for the 2020 Olympics. This year’s field was whittled down to two after Hamburg, Rome and Budapest all withdrew after lack of public support for the bids.
– Could there be two winners? –
With Paris and Los Angeles both offering relatively low risk bids that enjoy broad public support, the International Olympic Committee is exploring the possibility of awarding both the 2024 and 2028 Olympics at the same time when it votes in Lima on September 13. The fly in the ointment is that neither Paris nor Los Angeles has been willing to entertain the prospect of accepting 2028 as a consolation prize.
– What is the Evaluation Commission? –
The commission was created in 1999 in the wake of the corruption scandals that engulfed the IOC during the era of Juan Antonio Samranch. With individual IOC voters now barred from visiting bid cities, it is left to a 12-member panel chaired by Swiss basketball official Patrick Baumann to inspect the fine detail of the competing bids before reporting back to the wider IOC membership.
– What happens next? –
The Evaluation Commission will publish its report on its visits to Los Angeles and Paris in July. The bidders have the right to reply following publication of the report before a final briefing for IOC members and International Federations on the candidate cities. Los Angeles and Paris will then take delegations to Peru to make a final presentation to IOC members before the vote on September 13.
– Agence France-Presse
