Regional Support for Paris 2024 Olympic Bid

(ATR) A Paris 2024 Olympic bid moved a step closer following a meeting between French NOC officials and the Ile-de-France region.

Bernard Lapasset, chairman of the Comite Francais du Sport International (CFSI), and French NOC president Denis Masseglia were part of a delegation who met with representatives from the regional sport movement on Tuesday.

"The meeting organised by Ile-de-France region was an information and exchange session with regional sports movement," a French NOC spokesman tells Around the Rings.

"It was also the opportunity to give them an update and to mobilise them on a potential French Olympic and Paralympic bid, as they are at the heart of this project."

Lapasset, the president of the International Rugby Board, is understood to have presented the three-part feasibility study into a possible Paris 2024 bid.

Jean-Paul Huchon, president of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, reportedly backed the bid.

"The region rallied with the sports movement," he was quoted as saying by RMC Sport. "It is smart to take time for calculation, the time for reflection. Obviously, these Games, we want them."

Masseglia said the CFSI was presenting ideas that the French people and national sports movement could unite behind. "This work will pay, we do not doubt it," he was quoted.

The French Olympic Committee is expected to make a decision in January on whether to continue with its feasibility study on a Paris bid for the 2024 Games. A final decision would then be made in the summer.

While support is said to be building for a Paris 2024 bid, one major obstacle remains: the city’s mayor.

Two weeks ago, after French president Francois Hollande had voiced support for a potential Paris bid to host the 2024 Olympics, socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo raised concerns about the costs and prospects of white elephants. But she didn’t slam the door on an Olympic bid.

"There is no reason at this point to close a door or to open one," she was quoted by the AP. "If there are dreams to share with the French, to share about the Olympics, I hope they can come true."

Masseglia indicated to Around the Rings in Baku, venue for last week’s European Olympic Committees general assembly, that Hidalgo was not vociferously opposed to the Olympics. He suggested she could be won round to the idea with a financially sound bid proposal.

Last month, Prime Minister Manuel Valls appeared to threaten a Paris Olympic bid when he threw his weight behind plans for the 2025 World Expo. But Paris 2024 bid champions countered that he hadn't rejected an Olympic bid.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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