Paris, Los Angeles to host Olympics in 2024 and 2028

Lausanne: The International Olympic Committee agreed on Tuesday to award the 2024 and 2028 Games at the same time, effectively guaranteeing that Paris and Los Angeles will be the hosts. The French capital is tipped to stage 2024 while the Californian city has hinted that it was prepared to wait four more years. Paris and Los Angeles were the remaining candidates for the 2024 Olympics, a contest that IOC boss Thomas Bach said created “a golden opportunity”. [caption id=“attachment_3802713” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] From left, Casey Wasserman, Chairman of Los Angeles 2024, Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, International Olympic Committee, IOC, President Thomas Bach, Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, Tony Estanguet, Co-president of Paris 2024.AP[/caption] The Olympics has had increasing trouble attracting prospective hosts given the soaring costs and taxpayer support required. Paris and Los Angeles mounted progressive, exemplary bids that would trim expenses by using existing facilities, the IOC said, making clear that it did not want to reject either candidate. Bach lobbied for a double hosting plan, which won unanimous approval from IOC members at a meeting Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC boss called the decision ‘historic’. “Ensuring stability of the Olympics for 11 years is really something extraordinary,” he told reporters shortly after the plan was approved. Two month window  The IOC now has a two-month window to negotiate with Paris and Los Angeles over which city will go first. Bach said he wants a “tripartite agreement” before the IOC’s main annual meeting in Peru’s capital Lima on 13 September, when a vote on the 2024 host had been scheduled. Immediately after the deal was approved, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and his Parisian counterpart Anne Hidalgo appeared on stage arm-in-arm to thank the IOC members, leaving little doubt that a three-way pact was achievable. Speaking later alongside Bach, Garcetti and Hidalgo voiced full confidence in the upcoming talks. “I now know that I am sitting up here with two mayors, from two cities that will host after Tokyo the next two Olympics,” Garcetti said, referring to the 2020 Games in Japan. Hidalgo assured that ’the Games will return to Paris’