(ATR) As the Paris Council backs a 2024 bid, Thomas Bach prepares to hold discussions with Francois Hollande about the city’s Olympic quest later this week.
The city council on Monday approved a resolution to support a Paris bid, a decision which was widely expected.
Considered the last major hurdle on the city's road to officially announce its 2024 candidacy, it lays a platform for Bach’s meeting with Hollande at IOC headquarters in Lausanne on Thursday.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo is now firmly behind a 2024 bid. IOC member from France Tony Estanguet was present at the council meeting today, the French NOC tells Around the Rings.
The French NOC told ATR that the council’s support was one step among many en route to a final decision on a Paris bid due in late May or early June.
It will be Bach’s third meeting with Hollande after recent talks in Paris and at the Summit de Francophonie in Dakar, Senegal last November. They will continue discussions on "issues of mutual interest" and also on a potential Paris bid, the IOC tells ATR.
Hollande has publicly supported a Paris 2024 bid on several occasions. He will be seeking some advice from Bach about how best the city should proceed in preparing its Games concept.
"The state has a powerful opinion. The president and prime minister should also support the bid, so yes it’s an important meeting," a French NOC spokeswoman told ATR.
IOC President at UN
Bach has a punishing travel schedule this week.
He heads to New York on Tuesday for a meeting with UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and to deliver a speech on sustainable development and sport at UN headquarters.
Bach returns to Lausanne in time for a busy round of meetings on Thursday.
As well as his meeting with Hollande, Bach is scheduled to sit down with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban to discuss the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
With Budapest mulling a bid for the 2024 Games, the issue will likely come up in discussions.
Reported by Mark Bisson
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Utah’s Olympic venues an integral part of the equation as Salt Lake City seeks a Winter Games encore
IOC president tells Olympic Movement “we will again have safe and secure Olympic Games” in Beijing
Boxing’s place in the Olympics remains in peril as IOC still unhappy with the state of AIBA’s reform efforts
IOC president details Olympic community efforts to get Afghans out of danger after Taliban return to power
North Korea suspended by IOC for failing to participate in Tokyo though its athletes could still take part in Beijing 2022
