Donald Trump will lose Los Angeles the 2024 Olympics, say US gold medallists
The President wants to bring the Games back to the Californian city for a record-equalling third time, but his election has made that less likely in the eyes of members of the American athletics team.
The other candidate cities are Paris and Budapest, but there have been riots on the streets of the French capital in recent days. Meanwhile in Hungary, officials are considering a referendum on abandoning Budapest’s bid in favour of investing in new hospitals.
No other city wants to touch the Olympic Games. And yet, it is feared the US may still conspire to lose out on the hosting rights for the third time in a row.
“I had thought it would be Los Angeles but Jesus, it might not be now,” Aries Merritt, the fastest high hurdler in history, said.
He has held the 110-metre hurdles world record since 2012, winning gold at the London Olympics in the same year, and as one of the most respected and popular figures in the sport, his words carry weight.
Merritt will likely retire after the 2020 games. Chicago, the city of his birth, wanted that showcase, but there was no disgrace in missing out to Tokyo.
It would feel different were the States to be outvoted again, yet that is what Merritt expects will happen when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) convenes in Peru in September.