Representatives from the five cities bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be attending the general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in Washington this week to leverage the first official opportunity for bid committees to tell their stories to the Olympic world.
More than 1,000 delegates from 206 nations will be in the U.S. capital this week for meetings and the ANOC Awards Ceremony to honour athletes and National Olympic Committees. International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, dozens of IOC members and sports federation leaders, organizers of the next three Olympics along with the representatives from the five bid cities will be in attendance.
The important meeting is one of the key opportunities allowed by the IOC for bid city delegates to campaign to major stakeholders in the Olympic movement including the 100 members who will vote for the winner in 2017. Originally only four delegates were permitted to attend but that number was increased to six just days ago and representatives are expected to include Mayors and bid leaders.
The ANOC meeting is the first time the five bid cities – Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Hamburg and Budapest – will be in attendance at the same venue. L.A. will enjoy a “home team advantage” at the event that will showcase American culture at one of its receptions with Mayor Eric Garcetti and current bid front man Casey Wasserman leading the delegation.
There are no official presentations scheduled at the event but bid delegates will have the opportunity to meet with several important players to begin their campaign dialogues and build relationships that will be crucial when IOC members cast their votes for the winning city.
In mid-November the three cities will meet individually at IOC headquarters in Lausanne for Phase 1 workshops. The first part of the candidate bid books are due in to the IOC on February 17, 2016.
