Boston failed to deliver on Olympic promises

The United States has pledged to find a new candidate city for the 2024 Olympics after Boston failed to "deliver" on promises, IOC chief Thomas Bach said Wednesday.

The International Olympic Committee president said he had been baffled by Boston's tactics and could understand the US decision on Monday to withdraw the city as a candidate.

"We are not concerned at all because for us the situation has not changed," Bach told a press conference after an IOC executive meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

"We had a commitment from the United States Olympic Committee for an Olympic candidature for 2024.

"We are sure that the USOC will deliver on this commitment and that we will have on September 15 a bid from the United States."

September 15 is the deadline for entries to host the 2024 Games and Budapest, Hamburg in German, Paris and Rome have already announced they will compete. Other countries could still follow.

The United States is now considering entering Los Angeles, the hosts of 1984 Olympics considered one of the best in history.

Boston became bogged down in arguments over the cost and how to pay.

"At some stage I gave up following because it was pretty confusing. Every day there was a new project coming from Boston, or new people, new ideas," Bach said.

"In a nutshell, what happened there is quite simply that Boston obviously did not deliver on promises they made to USOC when they were selected.

"Therefore we can understand the decision by USOC and we are looking forward to an American bid from another city," Bach said.

The IOC leader would not comment on Los Angeles' possible entry and would not rule out new disputes in any bid city.

"The United States is one of the few countries in the world who has the luxury of having a number of cities which are capable of organising the Olympic Games," he said.

"It is now an internal issue for the USOC to determine the most appropriate city and it is not up to the IOC to give... unsolicited advice," he added.

"Of course you cannot exclude any kind of discussion in any city of the globe," he said of the campaign by taxpayer groups in Boston. "This is democracy, this we fully respect.

"Public support has always been important and will always be important," Bach said.
Source: AFP