Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday he was committed to bringing the Olympics back to Los Angeles, while reaffirming support for a plan to award the 2024 and 2028 Games together.
Garcetti made the comments in Lausanne, Switzerland - home of the International Olympic Committee - on the eve of a crunch meeting where Los Angeles and rival 2024 candidate Paris will make a fresh pitch to IOC voters. "We have two missions: one, which is to bring America back to the Olympics and the Olympics back to America and two, which is to bring the Olympics back to Los Angeles," Garcetti told reporters, flanked by IOC chief Thomas Bach.
Bach had escorted Garcetti and Los Angeles bid leaders including former sprint champion Michael Johnson on a tour of the lakeside Olympic Museum. The Paris 2024 team was due at the museum later Monday evening, led by French President Emmanuel Macron. Paris is the favourite to secure the 2024 Games, but Bach has pushed a plan that could see both the French capital and the Californian metropolis emerge this week as winners.