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Beginning Tuesday, 13 members of the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission will be in Los Angeles to assess the city's potential readiness for the 2024 games. The commission is set to evaluate L.A. before producing "a report highlighting the opportunities and challenges of [the city] with a strong focus on sustainability, legacy and athletes’ experience, using the analyses, as well as a number of external independent studies," notes the IOC's website.
But will the four-day visit sway the IOC's final decision much? "It’s less important than it appears," David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, told KPCC. "You have two cities [Los Angeles and Paris] that are really strong. Is there really something that’s going to come out of these visits? I don’t think so." Both L.A. and Paris have hosted the summer games twice. Should either city be chosen, they will play host for a third time—matching London for the record.
Wallechinsky adds that a visit by the evaluation commission may be more useful in smaller, less established cities, "But a lot of these voters have already been to Paris or L.A. on their own, so they don’t need an evaluation committee."
And regardless which city is selected later this year, it seems like the IOC will award the 2028 Olympic games to the other.
"All options are on the table, and this includes also the '24-'28 procedure and vote," Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, said, notes the BBC. "We have two excellent candidates from two major Olympic countries. This is a position you like to be in...It will be up to the working group how to best explore, how to best exploit, the positive situation. We should not miss the opportunity to explore this opportunity."
In the meantime, the LA2024 committee has been busy releasing fresh renderings of L.A.'s proposed venues. The IOC will meet in Lima, Peru, this September to make their final decision for the 2024 Games' host city.
