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LA 2024 Readies To Light Up For IOC Evaluation Commission Visit

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission members began to arrive in Los Angeles Tuesday ahead of a scheduled three-day tour of the city to begin Wednesday morning.  On the schedule are reviews of the bid books and Games concept, face-to-face meetings with bid officials and site inspections of several venues, many already built, that are being proposed to stage the Games.

The visiting IOC team will be welcomed at a formal dinner with several dignitaries, and keeping with the Hollywood theme, likely celebrities.  But U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly will not be present for the event.

To add to the atmosphere, several iconic LA landmarks will be lit up with LA 2024 branded colors for the important guests who will file a report in July that will help almost 90 IOC members determine in September whether it will be LA or rival Paris hosting the Games in 2024.

The LA Times reports that City Hall, the Getty, the Capitol Records building and the new Wilshire Grand skyscraper will be  lit up with yellows, oranges, reds and purples.  Other decorated venues will include Griffith Observatory, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the U.S. Bank Tower,  the Grand Park fountain, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Santa Monica Ferris wheel, Los Angeles International Airport and the Greek Theatre.

In 2009, several iconic building in Chicago were lit up with ‘2016’ when members of the Evaluation Commission for that edition of the Games were hosted at a dinner event at the Art Institute of Chicago.

At Los Angeles Airport human welcome signs were created in multiple languages to welcome guests.

Meetings are set to begin Wednesday morning with the bulk of the venue visits scheduled to take place on Thursday.  The visit will wrap up Friday with final press conferences before the inspection team jets to Paris to do it all again in the French Capital.

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Visiting members of the IOC Evaluation Commission include:

Commission Chairman Patrick Baumann, Switzerland

Marisol Casado, Spain

Mikaela Cojuango Jaworski, Philippines

Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe

Nawal El Moutawakel, Morocco

Ugur Erdener, Turkey

Habu Gumel, Nigeria

Poul-Erik Hoyer, Denmark

Gunilla Lindberg, Sweden

Bernard Rajzman, Brazil

Tsunekazu Takeda, Japan

Duane Kale, New Zealand

Kereyn Smith, New Zealand

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A senior producer and award-winning journalist covering Olympic bid business as founder of GamesBids.com as well as providing freelance support for print and Web publications around the world. Robert Livingstone is a member of the Olympic Journalists Association and the International Society of Olympic Historians.

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