Olympic bids to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are readying for important presentations to members of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) at the organization’s General Assembly due to be held in Doha, Qatar next week.
The annual meeting is a key event on the international sport calendar drawing about 1,000 delegates from 206 nations around the world.
It will be the first opportunity for bid committees to present their Olympic projects to the National Olympic Committees and they will be allotted 20-minutes, and six on-stage delegates to make an impression.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo is set to lead the Paris 2024 contingent along with bid co-chairs Bernard Lapasset and Tony Estanguet.
The bid team will aim to “present its unique vision to deliver a thrilling and memorable Games that places Olympism and Olympic and Paralympic sport firmly at the heart of everyday life in Paris and across France,” according to a statement released Thursday.
Mayor Hidalgo said “our vision for the 2024 Games – which is completely aligned to the city’s long-term sports, economic, social and environmental strategies – is advancing very well, but it is important that we work with all Olympic stakeholders, including the NOCs, to deliver a Games that creates an environment of comfort and convenience that enables the athletes to compete at their very best.
Lapasset said “we are delighted to be travelling to the ANOC General Assembly to underline our commitment to working with NOCs to deliver an outstanding Olympic and Paralympic experience in the City of Light in 2024. It is critical to build this project together sharing our common experiences and best practices.”
[box style=”0″]
The senior Paris 2024 delegation will include:
- Bid Co-Chairman, IOC Member and three-time Olympic Gold Medallist, Tony Estanguet
- Bid Co-Chairman, Bernard Lapasset
- Double Olympic Champion in Judo, Teddy Riner
- Rio 2016 Silver Medallist in Boxing, Sarah Ourahmoune
- London 2012 Silver Medallist in Basketball, Emmeline NDongue
- Double Paralympic Gold Medallist in Swimming, David Smétanine
- IOC Member and Olympic Gold Medallist, Guy Drut
- The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo
- Bid Chief Executive and Badminton Olympian, Etienne Thobois
- President of the French Paralympic Committee and Paralympic Bronze Medallist, Emmanuelle Assmann
- French National Olympic Committee President, Denis Masseglia
[/box]
The Budapest 2024 delegation will include Olympic and world champion athletes from across Hungary including gymnastics champion and Chairman of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, Zsolt Borkai and modern pentathlon champion Attila Mizsér.
The Hungarian presentation will try to portray “Budapest as the ‘right sized, real alternative’ city for the Olympic Games” according to a statement by the bid committee.
Borkai said that the ANOC General Assembly is a critical forum for dialogue with the NOCs.
“The dialogue we have been fostering with the Olympic Family will continue in Doha; we believe this will enable the Olympic Games to return to mid-sized cities like Budapest that can deliver the Games in more affordable, more secure, more accessible and more festive ways for young people and host nations.”
“This will help us to ensure that our concept for the Games closely aligns with both sporting and NOC priorities.”
The Budapest delegation for ANOC also includes two of the nation’s most well-known athletes, Áron Szilágyi, men’s Sabre Fencer and two time Olympic Champion in London 2012 and Rio 2016 and women’s Paralympic table tennis champion Zsófia Arlóy.
Bid chief Balázs Fürjes will also be on hand, along with the city’s Deputy Mayor Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky and Vice-Chairs Gusztáv Bienerth and László Vajda.
“Now is the time for us to demonstrate the strength of Hungary’s passion for the Olympics with our presentation to the National Olympic Committees in Doha,” Fürjes said.
The presence in the delegation of the Deputy Mayor of Budapest, Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky, highlights both the strong political backing for the bid at both city and cross-party parliamentary levels, and the important role that sport and major events, including the Budapest 2017 FINA World Championships, and European Olympic Youth Festival are playing in Budapest’s and Hungary’s current period of carefully planned growth and development.
The Los Angeles delegation has yet to be announced.
The bids will be given an additional chance to present to voting International Olympic Committee (IOC) members next July in Lausanne, Switzerland – an important opportunity after the evaluation reports are released but ahead of the final bid election scheduled for September 13 in Lima, Peru.
Part three of bid documents are due into the IOC February 6.
