Doha - BNA
The three bidding cities for the hosting rights of Olympics 2024; Los Angeles, Paris and Budapest, presented their proposals before the 21st general assembly of the Association of the National Olympic Committees (ANOC), currently held in Doha.
The Los Angeles bid delegation started the show, presenting their proposal which bears the theme of "Follow the Sun," saying that hosting the Olympics in Los Angeles will bring a lot of innovations for athletes, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).
In addition, the delegation said the city dedicated $2 billion to establish a new stadium and the Olympic village at the campus of the University of California besides pledging $250 million to fulfill the city's commitments in case it won the bidding process.
Budapest also presented a proposal that argued that new International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules should give the Hungarian capital the best chance of winning the hosting rights and would send a message that "the Olympic Games are not simply for the mega-city but for mid-size cities, too," Budapest Olympic bid leader Balazs Furjes said.
Budapest is a founding nation of the Olympic movement and offered to host the first modern Games in 1896. It had five bids rejected for other Games in the past century. "The experience will be truly new and unique," Attila Mizser, the bid's director of sports and venues said.
The French capital is bidding to host its third Games after 1900 and 1924. It's the fourth time France has bid for the Summer Games in the past quarter-century, having lost in 1992 to Barcelona, 2008 to Beijing and 2012 to London.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo emphasized the environment and a global impact aspects of the Paris bid. She said "the Olympic Games bring humanity together like no other event on earth. You are all important actors in meeting the challenges that face the world’s future – and you have demonstrated this clearly, in the eyes of the world, with Agenda 2020."