Rev your engines, Los Angeles: the race for the 2024 Olympic bid officially starts today and we're still in it (maybe our fancy little video did the trick). Our great city, along with four European candidates—Budapest, Hamburg, Paris and Rome—have all met the deadline to submit applications to the International Olympic Committee. Go LA!
LA has hosted the games twice before, in 1932 and 1984. If all goes as planned this time around, we could be looking at expedited construction to expand the Purple Line and other infrastructure improvements (woohoo!). Paris, probably our biggest competition, is also a two-time host, having done so before in 1900 and 1924. The only country to host more than twice is London, which has hosted three times, most recently in 2012.
"We are welcoming five outstanding and highly qualified candidate cities,” International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said in an official statement. But doesn't he kind of have to say that?
Only a year ago, several other countries were in the race that seemed to be strong contenders, including South Africa—which would have brought the games to Africa for the first time—and Qatar, which would have been the first Muslim country to host. Even more recently, Toronto and Baku, Azerbaijan were still thought to potentially bid, but ultimately decided not to. So now it’s just us against Europe.
The last time the Summer Games were held in the US was in 1996 when Atlanta hosted. Salt Lake City also held the winter games in 2002. The next two summer games will take place in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020.