(ATR) The race for the 2024 Olympics has yet to officially begin but that has not stopped potential bidders from traveling to Sochi to size up the action at SportAccord.
Representatives from France, Italy, Germany and the U.S. are quietly observing, talking with officials and media about what’s ahead for the next campaign for the Summer Olympics.
Boston 2024 COO Erin Murphy sat with a small group of journalists Wednesday night from the U.S. who are covering the convention. Although well-traveled in Europe Murphy says this is her first visit to Russia, spending four days at SportAccord. Tuesday she dined with NBC executives Peter Diamond, Jim Bell and Alex Gilady, who also happens to be an IOC member in Israel.
Senator Michael Neumann from Hamburg with DOSB President Alfons Hoermann.(ATR)Joining Murphy from the U.S. were USOC international relations chief Dragomir Ciroslan and Doug Arnot, Boston 2024 games operations expert.
Dinner with the media is about as overt as it got in Sochi. Cities won’t officially file with the IOC for the 2024 race until September. While international campaigning isn’t allowed to begin for another year, the cities are in a gray area since they are not official candidates either.
From Germany, Michael Neumann, a senator from Hamburg state government, tells Around The Rings that the bid is his portfolio and that he’ll be part of the international campaign. German NOC President Alfons Hoermann is also in Sochi along with Secretary General Michael Vesper and Bernhard Schwank, another DOSB executive. Both men are expected to play a key role in the bid from Hamburg.
From France comes Bernard Lapasset, World Rugby president, in line to take the helm of a Paris bid once it is declared. Sports expert Etienne Thobois is slated to become CEO.
Lapasset tells ATR there’s a growing confidence about this latest bid from France. He says political leaders at all levels of government, national, regional and municipal are aligning with sport to make this bid viable. Lapasset says the bid will be formally announced well ahead of the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur this August.
Italian NOC President Giovanni Malago accompanied a delegation from Rome bid to Sochi. Making their first international trip on behalf of the city were Claudia Bugno, newly hired as General Coordinator for Roma 2024 and Simone Perillo, international relations director.
Applications to bid for 2024 will close at the IOC Sept. 15. A short list will be declared in the first half of 2016, with international campaigning to follow up to the IOC vote in September 2017 at the session in Lima, Peru.
Written and reported in Sochi by Ed Hula.
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