Los Angeles launches 2024 Olympics bid

LAUSANNE: Los Angeles on Thursday launched its bid for the 2024 Olympics at the IOC having secured quick backing from President Barack Obama for the late campagn.
The city only voted on Monday to take up the US campaign after the embarrassing withdrawal of Boston.
But Obama made it known ahead of à meeting between a US delegation and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach that he backs Los Angeles.
“The president is enthusiastic about the US Olympic Committee annoncement that the city of Los Angeles will be the US bid for the 2024 Olympic Games,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
“Both the president and the first lady are very enthusiastic and very supportive of the bid.”
Los Angeles will be up against Paris, Rome, Budapest, and Hamburg with others considering taking the plunge before the IOC September 15 deadline.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti and USOC chief Larry Probst held talks with Bach in Lausanne about the bid.
Garcetti said he had “expressed our excitement and our enthusiasm” to be in the race and had highlighted Los Angeles experience as hosts in 1932 and 1984.
“This is something that is in our DNA,” he told reporters afterwards. “We don’t just know how to bid for the Olympics we know how to run one.”
He vowed transparency with taxpayers to avoid the storm of opposition that hit Boston.
US officials also insisted Los Angeles was not starting too late.
After the September 15 deadline “its a brand new start for every bid city. That’s when the competition really begins,” said the mayor.