Allez Paris: French capital launches bid for 2024 Olympics

Declaring they have learned from their past mistakes and failures, French officials launched a bid yesterday to bring the Olympics to Paris in 2024 — 100 years after the games were last held in the city.
Paris became the fourth city to enter the 2024 race and, with a bid team led by athletes and sports officials rather than politicians, believes it has found a winning formula after a string of stinging defeats.
“We’ve learned our lessons,” bid CEO Etienne Thobois said. “This time around, this is about winning.”
The Paris bid, which had been in the works for months, was formally announced at the headquarters of the French Olympic Committee in a ceremony attended by dozens of leading French athletes in a packed hall.
“We believe that this bid and our goal to host the 2024 Games will excite, unite and enthuse the people of Paris, our entire nation and lovers of Olympic and Paralympic sport all over the world,” said bid chairman Bernard Lapasset, surrounded by current and past Olympians shouting “Allez Paris!”
The French capital joins Boston, Hamburg and Rome as declared bidders. The Budapest city council voted yesterday to support a bid, but the project still needs approval from the Hungarian government and parliament.
The deadline for submission of bids is Sept. 15. The International Olympic Committee will select the host city in 2017.
The French sports daily L’Equipe proclaimed on its front page: “Paris En Tete,” or Paris out in front. That was supported by British bookmaker William Hill, which listed Paris as the 5-4 favorite, ahead of Boston and Hamburg.
Paris was also considered the favorite in the race for the 2012 Olympics, only to lose out to London in a close vote. Paris also failed in bids for the 1992 and 2008 Games.
French officials were criticized for their perceived arrogance in previous bids. This time, they have opted for a more cautious and sports-driven approach, leaving government officials in a supporting role and making sure all the political hurdles were cleared before going forward.
The new bid is led by Lapasset, head of the International Rugby Union, and Tony Estanguet, a three-time Olympic canoeing gold medalist and an IOC athlete member. AP