2024 Games bid: IOC President completes Paris visit

IOC President Thomas Bach has completed a two-day visit to Paris, after discussing the city’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games with French President Francois Hollande.

“Paris 2024 is a very strong candidate using some of the city’s iconic sights as a backdrop for the Olympic Games,” said Bach,

“It is a project in line with the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020 particularly in terms of sustainability and legacy with 95 percent of proposed venues either existing or temporary. It also puts athletes at the heart of the Games.”

Bach completed his visit at a football match between refugees and French athletes, organised by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

Before the refugee football game, Bach met with President Hollande, who stressed that France has the technology and ability to host major sporting events while ensuring safety.

The Paris 2024 bid leaders presented the bid vision to Bach at major European film industry hub, Cite du Cinema, highlighting their ambition to strengthen the spirit of Olympism in Paris and throughout France. They also illustrated the compactedness of the plan, showing Bach the key venues in the heart of the city that form the Paris 2024 Games plan.

“This weekend we have illustrated our commitment to bidding for these Games with new ideas and fresh concepts, learning from the lessons of our past campaigns and setting a new bar in delivering a stunning Games in 2024. We have seen further evidence that sport, and especially Olympic sport, is in the DNA of Paris and France,” added Paris 2024 Co-Chairman, Bernard Lapasset.