IOC votes to award 2024 and 2028 Games in single session

For the first time in a century, the host countries of two Olympic Games will be announced on the same day, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided.

At an extraordinary session in Lausanne, Switzerland, around 100 IOC members voted almost unanimously to award the 2024 and 2028 Games in a single vote at it's meeting in Lima, Peru on September 13.

Following several high-profile withdrawals including Boston, Budapest, Rome and Hamburg, the only two remaining candidates are Paris and Los Angeles, hence IOC president Thomas Bach's suggestion to award both games at once.

'A win-win situation'

The only remaining question is who will host first, and the two cities will meet with the IOC over the coming weeks to reach a decision which is, in Bach's words, "a win-win situation for the Olympic Movement, for LA and the United States, for Paris and France, and the IOC."

The last double-awarding of two Games came in 1917, when Paris and Amsterdam were awarded the 1924 and 1928 games respectively. Los Angeles hosted in 1932 and again in 1984.

"With Los Angeles and Paris, there are two fantastic cities from countries with a profound Olympic history," Bach continued. "This is a golden opportunity; it's hard to imagine anything better."

Questions have been asked to why only two cities have applied to host two editions of the Games, with one major reason for the lack of enthusiasm being the enduring problem of an Olympic legacy, as well as soaring costs.

But Bach highlighted the fact that both the Paris and Los Angeles bids planned on using a record number of existing, temporary and refurbished facilities in line with the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms, which should theoretically avoid the problem of empty "white elephant" stadia, as seen in Rio de Janeiro.

mf/mp (AP/SID)