New Olympic Sports Displayed in Marseille

(ATR) The IOC Coordination Commission for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris breaks the mold on its second visit to check out preparations for the Games.

Instead of returning to Paris as it did in its initial visit last year, the IOC group came to Marseille in the south of France. It's the first time for a Summer Olympics CoComm to hold its entire meeting outside the main host city.

Marseille, second largest city in the country, will be the venue for sailing as well as preliminary, quarterfinal and semifinal football matches in 2024.

The move to hold the commission meeting outside of the French capital is part of a strategy by the organizing committee to involve all of France in the staging of the Olympic Games, known as Terre de Jeux 2024.

"Creating a creative and innovative Olympic Games experience that benefits everyone is at the core of Paris 2024’s mission," said IOC Coordination Commission Chair Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant at the conclusion of the two-day meeting.

"Paris 2024 has made steady progress in a very short amount of time. We are in a new era of collaboration and co-creation, as seen with the presence of the International Paralympic Committee and so many local authority partners in Marseille,"said the IOC member from Belgium.

While in Marseille the IOC commission visited the proposed venues for sailing and football.

A group of four so-called urban sports will help make Paris 2024 distinctive. All of them were on display in the Old Port area of Marseille Tuesday. The demonstrations included 3X3 basketball, BMX, breaking, skateboarding, and sport climbing.

The IOC Sessionin Lausanne at the end of this month is scheduled to vote on the optional sports program for Paris that will be similar to Tokyo 2020, with the addition of breaking.

"This second Coordination Commission meeting comes at an important time in the construction of our project. It shows the progress we have made," said Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024.

"A year after we laid the foundations of the organizing committee, this second meeting has been looking outwards, towards the public at large. We have made the goal of engaging with the sports movement, the public authorities and the people of France one of our main priorities. This desire to get the population involved from the outset is a reflection of our ambition to offer Games that are different, and which make creativity the Paris 2024 hallmark," said Estanguet.

The 15-member IOC commission will meet once a year in Paris until 2021 when biannual visits will begin.

Reported by Ed Hula.