LA, Paris brief on bidding for 2024 Olympic

The two bidders for 2024 Olympic Games, Los Angeles and Paris, started their briefings and presentations before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Tuesday, both determined to host the sports gala for the third time in their history.

Los Angeles pledges to "illuminate the future" of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement "just as the Greeks used the sun to light the flame", said city Mayor Eric Garcetti, who led the LA bidding team.

LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman made clear that his team's bid is about "the future direction of the Olympic Movement," in which the best interest of both the IOC and LA will be served.

LA can help to redefine "sustainability" of the Olympics, because the city does not need to build a single permanent new venue, neither in the Olympic village nor in the media village, as four sports parks around LA already have the existing venues for the games, which will translate into games with no incremental cost as well as a lasting definition of Olympics sustainability.

As the home to the most creative entertainment and technology minds on this planet, LA creates stories that the world loves to enjoy as well as the technology to enjoy them, Wasserman said, reaffirming that LA 2024 is about serving the Olympic and Para-Olympic movement far beyond 2024, and to create new games for a new era.

The French bidding team enjoyed even more spotlight at the briefing mostly due to its own superstar -- the young and vibrant president, Emmanuel Macron, whose presence at the IOC has been, in his own words, the biggest endorse by his country and people on the determination and preparedness of Paris for Olympic 2024.

"We lost three times, so we don't want to lose a four one," Macron said at a press conference after the Paris presentation, referring to Paris' failures in bidding for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. "The French people are ready!" He reaffirmed.

Paris offers an Olympic bid that would fully integrate the French culture and history with the games so that Paris 2024 is "made for sharing" of the French passion, purpose and engagement. That's already featured in their vision plan for the games, like having game venues set at some of the renowned iconic landmark sites across Paris such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Seine.

Against the security concerns facing Paris, President Macron admitted that Paris has been hit directly by terrorism in the past years, triggering a comprehensive reform of France's anti-terrorism strategies and organizations that are now fully capable of meet the security demands of big events like the Olympic Games.

Security concerns don't mean that people can't celebrate the Olympic Games and live in freedom and enjoy the event; beyond all that there's still hope, he said.

The final decision on which city will host the 2024 Olympic Games are to be made during an IOC session in Lima, Peru, in September.