A total of 26 International Olympic Committee (IOC) members are accredited to attend next week’s SportAccord Convention in Aarhus at which the next major milestone is due to take place in the campaign to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“Short introductory” presentations are due to be given by both Los Angeles and Paris during the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) General Assembly on Tuesday (April 4).
Each city is expected to have 10 minutes to formally showcase their bid.
It will be fully open to the media and streamed live on screens throughout the exhibition hall in the Scandianavian Center where the Convention is taking place.
insidethegames revealed in December that the presentations were being added to the General Assembly program following a request by ASOIF to the IOC.
The week-long event in Denmark’s second largest city will also be a major opportunity for the two remaining candidates to showcase their respective bids to an audience of International Federations and wider stakeholders.
Both Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Parisian counterpart Anne Hidalgo are expected to be present.
Of the 26 members listed as attending, five are affiliated to one of the two bidding nations so will be unable to vote in an election scheduled for September 13 in Lima.
These consist of Paris co-bid leader Tony Estanguet and fellow Frenchman Guy Drut.
United States Olympic Committee chairman Larry Probst is due to appear alongside two compatriots who are also members of the IOC Executive Board, Anita DeFrantz and Athletes’ Commission chair Angela Ruggiero.
Of the remaining 21, Thomas Bach will also be expected not to vote in the Peruvian capital because tradition dictates that the IOC President remains neutral.
Others listed as attending include IOC vice-presidents Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain, Yu Zaiqing of China and World Archery President Uğur Erdener of Turkey.
These three – along with Australia’s John Coates – are co-chairing a special IOC Working Group exploring the possibility of awarding both the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympic Games in September.
Discussions about this proposal are also bound to informally take place in Aarhus.
Taiwan’s International Boxing Association boss CK Wu, Ukraine’s International Association of Athletics Federations vice-president Sergey Bubka, Switzerland’s International Ski Federation head Gian-Franco Kasper and Sweden’s Association of National Olympic Committees secretary general Gunilla Lindberg are other Executive Board members due to attend.
They are expected to be joined by five other International Federation Presidents who are also IOC members: Denmark’s Poul-Erik Høyer from the Badminton World Federation, Spain’s Marisol Casado and José Perurena from the International Triathlon Union and International Canoe Federation respectively, Serbia’s Nenad Lalovic from United World Wrestling and Italy’s Ivo Ferriani from the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.
Patrick Baumann, the International Basketball Federation secretary general and SportAccord President, who is chairing the IOC Evaluation Commission for the 2024 race, is another notable participant.
Other IOC members accredited are Baumann’s fellow countryman Denis Oswald, Israel’s Alex Gilady and New Zealand’s Barry Maister.
Also expected to attend are Alexander Zhukov and Tricia Smith, President of the Russian and Canadian Olympic Committees.
Completing the list is Britain’s World Anti-Doping Agency President Sir Craig Reedie and Romania’s Octavian Morariu, head of Rugby Europe.
A notable absentee from the list of accredited delegates is Switzerland’s International Ice Hockey Federation head René Fasel.
It is likely that not all of those listed will attend the ASOIF General Assembly, however, with Kasper and Ferriani set to participate at the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations General Assembly scheduled for the same afternoon.
Each candidate city is allowed 12 official delegates.
Paris’ includes Hidalgo, Estanguet and Drut, as well as chief executive Etienne Thobois, French National Olympic and Sports Committee President Denis Masseglia, sports director Jean Phillippe Gatien and international relations director Sophie Lorant.
Co-bid leader Bernard Lapasset is not listed among the delegates, although he is accredited.
Los Angeles 2024 has not yet formally announced its delegation, but those accredited include bid chair Casey Wasserman, chief executive Gene Sykes and vice-president Janet Evans.
Unlike at last year’s ANOC General Assembly in Doha, there will be fewer restrictions on consultants working for a particular bid.
Five people, for instance, are accredited as “Vero Communications & Paris 2024”, while others are accredited via the City of Paris.
Mike Lee, the chairman of Vero and former communications director of London 2012, is a notable absentee.
Five others are accredited via “Jon Tibbs Associates Pacific Inc/LA2024” or “JTA/LA2024”, while three more are listed under “Weber Shandwick/Los Angeles 2024.”
By Nick Butler
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.