Paris 2024 co-chairman Tony Estanguet has said the bid committee’s sole focus is on returning the summer Olympic Games to the French capital for the first time in a century and that it has no interest in the prospect of securing hosting rights to the 2028 edition of the event.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week formed a working group to assess changes to the candidature process for the Olympic Games that could see both Paris and Los Angeles achieve success in September.
IOC president Thomas Bach has dropped repeated hints in recent weeks over reforms to the Olympic bidding process, with the 2024 summer Games contest having seen Budapest, Rome, Boston and Hamburg all fall by the wayside.
This has left just Los Angeles and Paris in contention for the vote at the IOC Session on September 13 in Lima, Peru. Currently only the 2024 Games destination is scheduled to be decided, but the prospect of both 2024 and 2028 being allocated has been raised with Bach this month stating that the current status quo creates “too many losers”.
Officials from both bids have said their focus remains on the 2024 Games, but Estanguet moved to strengthen the Parisian stance today (Tuesday). He told the Reuters news agency: “It is now or never. We will not come back for 2028.
“If the IOC can find a solution with LA, that’s great. Our project is only possible for 2024. We can’t accept 2028. It is not possible.”
Paris missed out on hosting the 2012 Olympics to London in the final round of voting despite being the favourite. That defeat came on the back of similar experiences for the 2008 and 1992 Games. France last hosted the winter Olympics in Albertville in 1992 and the summer Games in Paris in 1924.
