French President "2024 Focused" in Pitch to IOC Members

(ATR) Mentions of the 2028 Olympics will be completely absent from Emmanuel Macron’s eagerly-anticipated speech and bid presentations to the IOC membership next week.

The French president and his wife Brigitte arrive in Lausanne at lunchtime on Monday. He will have a 15-minute meeting with IOC president Thomas Bach at the Olympic Museum before putting the final touches to the speech he will make as part of the Paris 2024 bid presentation at the candidate cities briefing on Tuesday.

A joint statement will be released by Macron and Bach, who is also welcoming the LA 2024 delegation at the museum.

Around the Rings is told that Macron’s address is being carefully scripted to emphasize that Paris only wants the 2024 Olympics, in keeping with the bid’s recent messaging. LA is also gunning for the 2024 Games. Both bids are refusing to concede any ground on the issue.

Later Tuesday, the IOC will vote on whether to approve an executive board proposal to double award the 2024 and 2028 Games at the Session in Lima on Sept. 13.

"We are going to be really 2024 focused," a bid source tells ATR of the 45-minute Paris bid presentation to the IOC members at the SwissTech Convention Center. "2028 won’t be talked about by anybody."

In his speech, ATR is told that Macron will reiterate government support for the Paris Olympic bid at all levels and underline the huge public backing for the bid as evidenced on Olympic Day.

Paris 2024 leaders Tony Estanguet and Bernard Lapasset along with CEO Etienne Thobois have kept the French president up to speed on the bid's critical IOC presentation. A few days ago they held talks with Macron at his official residence, the Élysée Palace.

Bach today opened a two-day executive board meeting, telling colleagues that "important decisions" would be taken in the coming days.

Bids Pitch IOC Members

Los Angeles will kick off the candidate cities briefing with its 45-minute pitch to the IOC led by mayor Eric Garcetti and Casey Wasserman. It will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A with IOC members.

Paris then gets its turn to impress the IOC electorate with the ambition of its bid.

Both bids were ranked highly in the IOC’s evaluation commission report released last week. They will likely reference the report and perhaps comment on the few challenges cited by the IOC.

Under IOC rules, up to 10 speakers are allowed to participate in the bid presentations. Each bid has 30 officials who are accredited to attend the 2024 briefing.

With 250 accredited media, the IOC has decided that the meeting will be closed to media - with no TV feed.

It’s the first summer Olympic candidate cities briefing to be held behind closed doors since Bach’s Agenda 2020 reforms were introduced, which included references to increasing transparency.

A mixed zone is being set up for journalists to speak with LA and Paris bid executives and IOC members when they leave the meeting.

On Tuesday afternoon, the IOC Extraordinary Session will convene to discuss the dual award proposal favored by Bach and the IOC’s ruling body. Several hours have been set aside to debate the issue, but approval could come much quicker. Discussions may also focus on how the final vote is arranged in Lima in September.

With all but a few IOC members gathering in Lausanne, together with sizeable delegations from LA and Paris, the city will be abuzz with Olympic talk over the next few days.

The LA and Paris bids are staying at the Royal Savoy and Palace Hotel. Macron will be at the lakeside Beau-Rivage Palace, the most expensive hotel in Lausanne.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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