(ATR) The Los Angeles Coliseum pulsed with the beat of a dance party at sunrise to help launch the final phase of the campaign for the 2024 Olympics.
More than 500 Angelenos, most dressed in wild costumes and colorful fashion, turned up for the event Feb. 2 at the entrance to the Coliseum, site of the ceremonies for the 1932 and 1984 Summer Games. If LA is successful with its bid, the stadium would once again be used during an Olympics.
"It’s a good way to get a crowd together, watch the sun rise over the Coliseum, connect our past to our future, and begin the process we’ll go through over the next six and a half months of international engagement," bid leader Casey Wasserman tells Around the Rings.
LA, along with Paris and Budapest submit the third of three filings required by the IOC this week. To view part three of the LA 2024 candidature bid book,click here.
From Feb. 3 the three cities are permitted to engage in international promotion, limited of course, to the rules of the IOC.
Paris hosts events on Friday, including one at the Eiffel Tower. Budapest will wait until later in February to launch its international campaign. Bid leaders are waiting for the results of a petition drive to hold a city referendum on the Olympic project.
Wasserman insists that the new U.S. President is supporting the Los Angeles bid, offering as evidence the 20+ minute phone call in November between IOC President Thomas Bach and the president-elect Donald Trump. Trump has yet to publicly endorse the bid and Wasserman did not indicate when and how that might happen.
And Wasserman is careful to avoid any direct comment on whether the policies and rhetoric of President Trump might be off-putting to IOC members.
"We’re happy to engage IOC members in any topic they want to discuss. But I’m certain there’s no greater host for an Olympic Games than Los Angeles and the United States and we’re happy to share that story," says Wasserman.
Wasserman says as leader of the bid, he will be the head of the international effort for Los Angeles. Working with him will be vice chair Janet Evans, bid CEO Gene Sykes, the three IOC members from the U.S., USOC CEO Scott Blackmun and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
"Our job is to tell people about the new Los Angeles. And the new Los Angeles might be very different from the Los Angeles they’re connected with. LA has become the cultural capital of the world. It’s got more infrastructure projects going on than in any other American city. It’s a city that’s rapidly changing," says Wasserman.
He says the messaging from his bid team in these final months of the race for 2024 will be "relentless and consistent".
Reported and written in Los Angeles by Ed Hula.
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