Olympics: IOC considers switch for 2024 vote

IOC officials have highlighted problems between Peru's national Olympic committee and the government, organisational hold-ups as well as fallout from recent floods that sparked landslides in Lima.

Published : Apr 04, 2017 23:33 IST , Aarhus, Denmark

IOC President Thomas Bach flanked by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (left), LA 2024 chairman Casey Wasserman (second from right) and UCLA chancellor Gene Block (right) during a news conference in Los Angeles.
IOC President Thomas Bach flanked by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (left), LA 2024 chairman Casey Wasserman (second from right) and UCLA chancellor Gene Block (right) during a news conference in Los Angeles.
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IOC President Thomas Bach flanked by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (left), LA 2024 chairman Casey Wasserman (second from right) and UCLA chancellor Gene Block (right) during a news conference in Los Angeles.

The IOC will decide quickly whether to switch a key meeting to choose the 2024 Games hosts away from Peru's stricken capital, a source close to the Olympic leadership told AFP on Tuesday.

An International Olympic Committee envoy arrived in Lima on Monday for talks on whether the city can hold the congress on September 13 which is to decide between Los Angeles and Paris for the 2024 Games.

Spanish Olympic Committee chief Alejandro Blanco is to draw up a report for IOC president Thomas Bach, who is at the SportAccord convention in Aarhus, Denmark.

"In light of his conclusions, a decision will be taken and this is imminent. The IOC cannot wait too long," said the source.

IOC officials have highlighted problems between Peru's national Olympic committee and the government, organisational hold-ups as well as fallout from recent floods that sparked landslides in Lima.

Peru's Olympic committee chief Jose Quinones was banned from holding any public post for five years in 2016 because of irregularities in accounts he controlled.

If the IOC cannot hold its congress in Lima it may decide to hold the event at its headquarters in Lausanne. But as Switzerland is a neighbour of France this could set off a dispute over the impartiality of the vote for 2024.

Bach told AFP that the IOC was releasing $600,000 in aid to help the relief effort in Peru as a matter of urgency.

The IOC president said the Olympic movement "wanted to make a contribution for the reconstruction of the country and to help people immediately.

"There is a lack of water, food, the country needs to be rebuilt everywhere, that is why the Olympic movement wanted to help."

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