Paris "will begin its oui-ou-non? debate about hosting the 2024
Olympics in earnest on Thursday when a detailed feasibility study will
be presented to politicians at City Hall," according to John Powers of the BOSTON GLOBE. The French "are understandably wary after three failed bids, most
recently the four-vote loss to London for 2012." Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo said, "I’m not into chasing dreams. I know what happens when dreams come unstuck against harsh realities." Paris appeared to be a clear choice for '12 "but some serious schmoozing" by British PM Tony Blair "(whose
French is more than passable) in the days before the Singapore vote
turned things in London’s favor." A "gaffe" by French President Jacques Chirac did not help. He told Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder about the British, "One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad." If
French officials conclude the Games would bring the country together,
they will "likely proceed with a candidacy." If they do not and either the
German bidder (Berlin or Hamburg) or Rome wins, Paris effectively "would
have to wait until 2036." While the city is expected
to make its decision by June it is "quite possible" that there will be a
public referendum on the question, which is customary for European
candidates (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/11). The AP reported Hidalgo "remains cautious about a potential Paris bid for the 2024 Olympics, saying she still needs to be convinced that hosting the games will be worth the effort." In an interview with French television station BFMTV on Tuesday, Hidalgo "expressed her general support for a bid but reiterated her concerns about the costs and the ecological impact of hosting the games in the French capital." Hidalgo: "My heart is rather with sports and the games but at the same time I'm not ready to do any old thing. If we can win, we'll go for them. But there is not a single city that got involved with the games that made economic benefits from them" (AP, 2/10).
