An incredible visit to an incredible city

Los Angeles, May 12, 2017: The IOC Evaluation Commission completed its three-day visit to Los Angeles on Friday, May 12, early in the afternoon. Arriving at the beginning of the week under a gray sky, she left California with a smiling sun.

It has to be believed that the weather has had an effect on the morale of its members. Like their president, Patrick Baumann, the envoys of the Olympic organization (Photo above, at the Memorial Coliseum) have not made mystery of their enthusiasm.

“The quality of the sites left the commission in an ecstatic state”, even dared the Swiss leader to the media, when assessing the visit.

Extatic, then. Not less. Patrick Baumann did not refuse any superlative to sum up the general impression. “An incredible visit to an incredible city,” said Switzerland. The Los Angeles team seemed to have passed his passing examination.

She knew how to impress the members of the evaluation committee, answer their questions and smother the subjects presumed slippery. Patrick Baumann assured him: “Political issues were not addressed, they did not enter our field”. Listening to him, the name of Donald Trump would not have been mentioned. The commission did not have any contact with the group of opponents of the Games, the organization NOlympics LA.

It is not in the practice of an evaluation board to point the finger at bad students. His comments are mostly positive, or at worst neutral when the copy proves mediocre. With two cities of the caliber of Los Angeles and Paris, its version 2024 will not derogate from this rule of conduct. Nevertheless, the president was amazed to see the media come to the conclusion of the visit.

“We were very impressed by the quality and experience of the LA 2024 team, especially by its two leaders, Casey Wasserman and Eric Garcetti,” suggested Patrick Baumann. They form a duet full of energy, enthusiasm and intelligence. They certainly play a major role in the strong support of the candidate population.

Los Angeles has built an excellent proposal. To have 7 years before her would be almost a luxury for such a city. Of course, there is still work to be done. The job could not be done in one night, but everything is ready to 95 or 97%. “

In Los Angeles, members of the commission not only tapped Sylvester Stallone, Placido Domingo or Kobe Bryant, personal hosts of Casey Wasserman at the official dinner of the visit, held at the home of the president of the bid.

They were able to discover or rediscover “in real”, on site, the sites proposed by the Californian team. The athletes’ village, in particular, on the UCLA campus. Patrick Baumann: “The vision of Los Angeles’s bid to transform the Games forever is a reality, we checked it over those three days. “

The budget? “We have dug the issue,” says Switzerland. His private funding is not, in our view, a risk. At USC and UCLA, for example, renovation spending has already been voted and committed by both universities. And there is certainly with this application the opportunity to make money. “

The evaluation committee left Los Angeles late Friday afternoon to join Paris. It must repeat the same exercise by following an identical program, starting Sunday morning, in the French capital.

Patrick Baumann explained: “The two cities are different. Their vision is different. These differences will be reflected in the report to be released on July 5. To the Parisians to play.