French banking group BNP Paribas and postal service company La Poste have signed up to support the Paris bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It calls for the use of existing facilities where possible, and provides flexibility for the venue concept to meet local sustainability and legacy needs and ambitions. It is impressive to see how they have incorporated the Olympic project into the long-term development plans of their city, region and country.
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The first part of the candidature files submitted on Wednesday concerned the respective cities’ “Vision, Concept and Strategy” for hosting the Games, with the next stage due on October 7.
Los Angeles chose a logo representing it’s nickname “City of Angels” instead of an historic structure, There has been no word from Budapest on whether we’ll get a sneak peek of its design ahead of the release of their bid book documents likely later this week.
“Everyday people follow the sun to our city in pursuit of their dreams, spurring unprecedented creativity, innovation and progress”, said Casey Wasserman, chairman of Los Angeles 2024.
Basketball would be housed at Staples Center, with soccer at the Rose Bowl, gymnastics at the Forum and volleyball at Pauley Pavilion.
The deadline for the third and final submission, focusing on Games delivery, experience and venue legacy, is February 3, 2017.
No launch ceremony will take place there after opponents, fearing spiralling costs and risks of corruption, tried to force a citizen referendum to block the bid, as was the case with Hamburg.
With the Colosseum as their emblem and the city’s major tourist attractions as venues, the Italian capital will build on its strengths and existing infrastructure.
Bid committee president Bernard Lapasset will confirm a budget of €3.2 billion for infrastructure, with existing stadiums and arenas being used along with landmark Paris monuments such as the Grand Palais and the Trocadero.
This marks the beginning of the new Agenda 2020 recommendations and encourages the cities to present Olympic projects that best match their sports, economic, social and environmental long-term planning needs.
“We are lucky to have so many extraordinary sites and attractive monuments to fall back on”.
“With 480 training venues within 30 minutes of the Athletes Village, competitors will have optimal conditions to train and perform”, said Tony Estanguet, co-chairman of Paris 2024 and a triple Olympic canoeing champion.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will elect a winning bid in September 2017 from a race that also includes Paris, Rome and Budapest.
