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Controversy within International Olympic Committee as board disagrees over 2028 host city

Who will host the Olympics in 2024 and 2028? That's something that has members of the International Olympic Committee in disagreement right now

by Sinead Mulhern

Olympics

For a while now, rumours have been circulating that both the 2024 and 2028 Olympic host cities will be awarded at the same time.

That’s a strategy that International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Thomas Bach, feels is a wise move to avoid disappointing Los Angeles or Paris. They are the two leaders in the contest to be awarded host city for 2024. This double Olympic announcement would avoid a case where there are too many losers. The official naming of the two Olympic hosts could take place in Lima in mid-September.

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But according to Inside The Games, plenty of members high up on the IOC board take issue with that idea. There has been a distinct push-back against Bach. Those who are against it say that it’s against current regulations and that they are unsure about how the process of naming two cities at once would work.

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As reported by Inside The Games, some fear that this would lead to problems particularly in choosing the city to host in 2028 because some cities, in that case, would lose their rights. Naming that city 11 years before the event is also risky; a lot could go wrong in over a decade. And for those locations that would consider launching a bid for that Olympics, they miss out. Because it’s so early, candidates for 2028, some IOC members say, haven’t yet been properly considered. And all that is not to mention that the current rules state that a city is to be named seven years prior, not 11.

For those who are preparing to bid to become the 2028, this September announcement would be a bit of a slap in the face if it where to happen. Essentially, their application would be shot down without any warning.

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The tone of many in the IOC is that avoiding disappointing losers now will only lead to disappointing more later on– especially if this awarding decision goes against IOC rules.

Historians may however be pleased by this outcome. Leap back 100 years ago and Paris and Los Angeles were again battling to host the Games. In 1924, the French city held the Olympic. Los Angeles held the event in 1932.

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