Los Angeles 2024 leaders expect United States President-elect Donald Trump to be an “enthusiastic supporter” of their Olympic and Paralympic Games bid and have already begun attempts to build a relationship with his administration.
Speaking ahead of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly, the bid leaders sought to distance themselves from speculation that last week’s shock victory for Trump over Hillary Clinton was a blow for the bid.
They also claim his win was “part of a global pattern” being replicated elsewhere.
“Donald Trump is an enthusiastic supporter of sport,” Gene Sykes, chief executive of Los Angeles 2024, told insidethegames here.
“He is also an Olympic fan.
“Expect him to be a supporter of ours and to be enthusiastic about the Olympics.”
Los Angeles 2024 chairman Casey Wassermann did not go as far as to praise Trump but claimed that the Olympic bid is separate from the political process and that “local support” in California will be key.
“A bid is not about politics,” Wassermann told insidethegames.
“It is about bringing the city together.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti – leader of his city’s delegation here this week – had claimed the same during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
He said then that “an America that turns inward, like any country that turns inward, isn’t good for world peace, isn’t good for progress, isn’t good for all of us”, and that “some of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members they would say, ‘Wait a second, can we go to a country like that, where we’ve heard things that we take offence to?'”
Both Garcetti and Wassermann are associated with the Democrat Party but Goldman Sachs banker Sykes is, like Trump, a Republican.
They claim to have already begun building relationships with those close to Trump.
But they consider it “too early to call,” however, over the question of whether he will attend the IOC Session in Lima on September 13 next year where a decision will be made between Los Angeles and European rivals Budapest and Paris.
Rome “suspended” itself from the process last month after failing to get support from the Italian capital’s Mayor Virginia Raggi.
“We’re focused on the job ahead with 10 months to go,” said Wassermann.
Few IOC members seem to think that Trump’s victory will impact Los Angeles 2024 in a negative way.
Sykes claims that some have remarked to him that Trump’s victory is part of a “worldwide process” also being replicated elsewhere.
Elections to choose a new President in France are due to take place next April and May.
A leading candidate is expected to be French National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
Hungary are currently led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a right-wing conservative who has received criticism outside the country for his strong attitude against migrants.
By Nick Butler
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.