IOC Members Say Options Open for 2024 Olympics

(ATR) The possibility that the IOC could select two Olympic host cities this year is not an impossibility, say some top IOC members.

Starting at the top with IOC president Thomas Bach, who this weekend told the Associated Press that he likes the idea that there is public discussion about whether the IOC should pick hosts for the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics at the same time..

"I like it that people are talking in this way about the Olympic candidature procedure. It shows that people are caring. This we appreciate very much," he is quoted by AP.

In December Bach mentioned in a press conference that the current bid process is producing "too many losers" but did not say how the IOC might change that.

"Let us discuss. This is a discussion," Bach said in St. Moritz this weekend, appearing to move the ball forward on this potentially complex question.

"It also depends on the timing. This is, you know, why I appreciate also the public discussion. There are many options."

Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris are the three cities in the race for 2024. But the Hungarian bid could be facing a referendum, a move that may lead the mayor of Budapest to end the campaign rather than face a vote.

IOC members at the opening of the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo tell Around the Rings they would be open to the possibility of selecting more than one Olympic host at a time, but would need to know more.

"The IOC should think about this possibility for the future of the Olympic Games," says Japan’s Tsunekazu Takeda, who will inspect the bids in April and May as a member of the IOC 2024 Evaluation Commission.

"It is a big possibility, we have to check what is best for the Olympic Games," he said.

Singapore IOC member Ser Miang Ng tells ATR "I suppose it is good to discuss such possibilities, but obviously you have to consider many factors, so I think it is too early to make any comments. It is good to be open and discuss it," he said.

"I think it is a complicated decision. In Singapore 2005 at which I chaired the organization of the session, we had five great cities – New York, Moscow, Madrid, Paris and London and there was only one winner," Ng says.

U.S. IOC member Larry Probst, one of the leaders of the Los Angeles bid for 2024 as president of the US Olympic Committee, says his team is only focused on the 2024 decision and not speculation. He also mentions a feeling he gets from talking to IOC colleagues that some do not like the idea of picking two cities at the same time.

Probstis in Sapporo for a few days with LA 2024 chair Casey Wasserman and colleagues from the USOC international team. The Paris bid is represented by co chair Tony Estanguet. Budapest chief executive Laszlo Vajda is the representative of the Hungarian campaign.

Moving forward with a last minute rules change such as selecting two Olympic host cities at the same IOC session will not be a straightforward process and would truly be a last minute move ahead of the September 13 vote in Peru.

The fate of the Budapest bid is part of the equation. Then there is the French presidential election taking place in May. The IOC Evaluation Commission will complete its tour of the bid cities in mid-May and must issue its report, due in early July.

If the IOC get serious about a two city decision in a few months it probably needs to find out if the two cities are willing and able. That kind of accommodation can’t be handled in secret, especially when government guarantees and other commitments are on the line.

Finally there are the mechanics of exactly how the IOC might implement this decision at the session this September in Lima, Peru. The Olympic Charter is clear on how a host city is to be elected. The IOC membership would first have to vote on a significant change in the charter or suspension of the rules to move ahead to the nitty-gritty details that would follow.

As the IOC member in Singapore says, "I think it is a very complicated decision".

Reported and written in Sapporo, Japan by Ed Hula and Brian Pinelli .

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