Reporting from Lima Convention Center in Peru – The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games bid team arrived home triumphantly Friday morning following Wednesday’s awarding of the Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the French Capital, as well as Los Angeles in 2028.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo shed tears of joy when the awarding was made official, without a vote, as part of a tripartite plan with Los Angeles and the IOC. Though the decision was predetermined, the crowning moment helped shed the frustration of French Olympic fans who saw Paris lose three consecutive bids for 1992, 2008 and 2012.
It will be Paris’ third Games on the 100th anniversary of the last time the city hosted.
Paris 2024 was greeted with fanfare on the tarmac at Charles De Gaulle Airport after arriving in a charted Air France jet. A bid team of 400 then traveled to the Élysée Palace for a reception with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been a solid supporter of the bid and traveled to Lausanne in July to present to IOC members on behalf of the bid.
President Macron had been visiting the devastation left by Hurricane Irma in Saint Martin this week, returning home to meet the Paris 2024 team.
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The event was televised and attended by former Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande.
The team also visited the Olympic Rings that were newly installed in front of the Eiffel Tower when the official announcement was made Wednesday.
Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet said “What an incredible day, returning to Paris and celebrating with the whole French nation. The excitement in this country is electric, and today we have seen a glimpse of it.”
