2024 Bids Eager to Learn in Rio

(ATR) The four cities bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics are sending large delegations to the Rio 2016 Games to gain firsthand experience into the day-to-day operations at the Olympics.

Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome are competing to host the 2024 Games. The IOC will decide on the host city in a little more than a year at the September 2017 IOC Session in Lima, Peru.

Not only are the bid cities using the opportunity to learn from the Rio 2016 organizers, the delegations will take the time to try and make good impressions and rub elbows with the IOC members who will be voting on the future host city.

The Budapest delegation features bid leader Balazs Furjes, Hungarian Olympic Committee president Zsolt Borkai, Hungarian President Janos Ader and Prime Minister Viktor Orban. President Ader will attend the opening ceremony on Aug. 5 while Orban will represent the country during the closing ceremony.

The Rio Olympics also mark the first time in Hungary’s history that the country will have a hospitality house in the host city of the Olympics.

"We are delighted to be opening the doors of the first ever Hungarian House at an Olympic Games and honored that our President and Prime Minister will visit," said Borkai. "We aim to make this a truly memorable experience and a focal point for support for the Hungarian team at Rio."

The Los Angeles bid team is fielding a 26-person strong delegation in Rio that includes L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, bid leader Casey Wasserman, vice-chair Janet Evans and chief executive officer Gene Sykes among others. The bid will likely benefit from the selection of IOC member Angele Ruggiero as the IOC’s newest leader of its Athlete Commission. Ruggiero is also the chief strategy officer for the L.A. bid.

Before the Games begin, Mayor Garcetti and other L.A. bid leaders have been seen making the rounds at the hotel the IOC members are staying at to improve their standing with those who hold their future in their hands.

The Paris 2024 team is sending a nine-person delegation to Rio de Janeiro highlighted by bid co-chairmen Tony Estanguet and Bernard Lapasset, chief executive Etienne Thobois, French Olympic Committee president Denis Masseglia, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and President of France Francois Hollande among others.

President Hollande is expected to arrive on Aug. 4 and will attend the opening ceremony of the Games. The bid could be also be bolstered by the addition of Estanguet as a vice-chairman of the IOC Athletes Commission.

"We travel to Rio with great optimism as our bid continues to evolve and develop," said Estanguet. "We are looking forward to sharing our pioneering vision for Paris 2024 with colleagues in the Olympic Family and of course celebrating the sporting action and the achievements of the athletes."

The Rome delegation will be lead by bid president Luca di Montezemolo, Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Renzi is expected to arrive in Rio on Aug. 3 in time for the inauguration of the Casa Italia hospitality house.

To make sure the bid cities don't go too far with the promotion of their bids, the IOC sent a reminder to the bid cities that any promotional materials for the bid can only be displayed within each city's respective hospitality house in Rio. Cities may distribute pins, simple pens and any documentation related to the bid. The bid city emblem must also only be displayed within the confines of the hospitality house.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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