Olympics: Paris, LA Both Poised To Win Summer Games

LAUSANNE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jul, 2017 ) : The International Olympic Committee was poised to hand the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games to Paris and Los Angeles on Tuesday in a landmark double hosting deal.

The IOC meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland had initially been forecast as a key stage in the battle for 2024, with teams from the French capital and California mega-city making fresh pitches to voters.

But the Paris-Los Angeles rivalry has been muted by an IOC plan to ensure that both cities come out as winners, with one hosting 2024 and the other taking its turn four years later. The IOC has struggled to attract prospective hosts given the enormous cost of staging the Games and Olympic boss Thomas Bach has said he clearly that he does not want to turn either Paris or London away.

The double hosting plan was backed by IOC executives last month and is widely expected to win approval from the body's roughly 100 members later Tuesday.

Los Angeles, led by mayor Eric Garcetti, did little to quell mounting speculation it was prepared to wait.

"We are competing for 2024", Garcetti told reporters after Los Angeles made its presentation on Tuesday. But he added that LA was keenly awaiting approval of the double hosting proposal, which may make the 2024 race "moot".

"LA is ready to throw these Olympics in two months if we are asked, or two decades if it came to that because we have everything ready", Garcetti said. "You can't be a kid with your toys and say if you don't give me exactly what I want I'm getting out of here," added the LA mayor, who is a prominent member of the US Democratic Party.

LA bid chairman Casey Wasserman reaffirmed that the American bid has "never given an ultimatum about 2024".