Paris to host 2024 Olympics with no clear US candidate in sight
PARIS (AP) — As the United States prepares to end its longest absence from the Summer Olympics in a full century by sending what is expected to be a strong team to Tokyo next year, the significance of the event is not lost on the reporters covering the games. Sports enthusiasts are already looking ahead to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
As the closing ceremony turned the page on the 2010s, there was no clear U.S. candidate in sight to challenge Paris for the 2024 Games. While President Donald Trump has run hot and cold on the Games, France has positioned itself as a leading candidate for 2024, hosting the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower.
“The international exposure and prestige of hosting the Olympics would seem to be tailor-made to President Trump’s approach to international affairs,” said Ahmed Khelif, a lecturer in sports history at The Sorbonne in Paris.
Khelif noted that Trump’s “America First” approach might set limits on how much the U.S. government would want to get involved in an international sports event, especially if it involves major expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paris, which last hosted the Olympics in 1924, has been up against Los Angeles, which hosted in 1984 and 1932. In 2017, it was not altogether surprising when the International Olympic Committee awarded Paris the 2024 Games and Los Angeles the 2028 Games, given that several potential candidate cities had dropped host bids in recent years.
Growing tensions between the United States and the Paris Mayor’s office saw the candidature of Los Angeles marginalized in the run-up to the 2019 vote. U.S. diplomats refused to meet with Mayor Anne Hidalgo during the visit of U.S. first lady Melania Trump last year.
France itself has yet to lodge a formal petition with the IOC to host in 2024, stating it would only do so if it was assured of the Games happening as scheduled.
France’s bid team says its approach contrasts with the two-year national mobilization seen in the delivery of Los Angeles’ bid after which a host city contract was signed on July 31, 2017.
When the Games come in 2024, even if a U.S. team clinches the right to challenge for supremacy under the “Stars and Stripes,” in nearby France overshadowed by the Eiffel Tower, the moment will feel like an homage to the historic day in August 1777 when the French army en route to the Revolutionary War laid anchor at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.