Los
Angeles bid is 'new start' for all, says LA mayor
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[September 03, 2015]
By Karolos Grohmann
BERLIN (Reuters) - Los Angeles' 2024
summer Olympics bid will be a new start for the United States as it
attempts to land the first summer Games since 1996 and put the
disappointment of Boston's failed effort behind it, the city's mayor
said on Thursday.
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The United States Olympic Committee (USOC), which had picked Boston
over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington earlier this year,
was under mounting pressure to deliver an American bid after the
Massachusetts capital pulled out in late July over financial
concerns.
"This is a brand new start for everybody," Los Angeles mayor Eric
Garcetti told a conference call after a meeting with the
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach at the Olympic
body's headquarters in Lausanne on Thursday.
The meeting took place less than 48 hours after Garcetti's
announcement in Los Angeles of the candidacy to bring the Games back
to the sprawling Californian metropolis on the Pacific ocean for a
third time after 1932 and 1984.
"It was important for us to show that Los Angeles, at the beginning
of this contest, has thought our bid through," Garcetti said.
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"Any campaign is about relationships," he added, preferring a
"face-to-face" meeting with the IOC President, whose organization
will elect the winner in 2017.
Rome, Paris, Germany's Hamburg and Hungarian capital Budapest have
so far also announced their candidacies. The deadline for bids is
Sept. 15.
The United States have bid before with Chicago and New York failing
in previous attempts before the latest Boston debacle.
Garcetti said the short preparation time after Boston's surprise
withdrawal on July 28, had not affected plans for the bid.
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"LA is not our first dance. We understand not only how to compete
and win the Olympics but also how to run them," he said, adding the
city had some 85 percent of the venues ready or under planned
construction regardless of the Games.
He also highlighted the city's current infrastructure investment as
well as its financial clout along with its diverse population where
"over 200 languages are spoken" as bid assets.
"Everyone can feel at home. Every athlete has a home advantage,"
Garcetti said following the meeting which also included USOC chief
Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun.
"We had the chance to express the excitement and enthusiasm of being
the official U.S. bid city for 2024. Los Angeles has benefited
greatly from our involvement with the Olympic movement and vice
versa," said Garcetti.
"I think it's time for America to bring the Olympics back home. The
United States love the Olympics and the Olympics loves the United
states."
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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