Enrico Letta: Italy could bid for 2024 Olympics

Italy could bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games, Prime Minister Enrico Letta has said, after Tokyo clinched victory in the competition for the 2020 Games. After the Olympics in Brazil in 2016 and Japan in 2020, the 2024 edition is likely to go to Europe, North America or Africa according to an unwritten rule for the IOC which tends to alternate continents. London held the last "European" Olympics in 2012. Rome had to drop its 2020 bid because of economic troubles after then prime minister Mario Monti made it clear budget cuts and austerity would not allow it. It could face a still tentative rival bid from Paris. "I am working on this. We can be serious candidates for the 2024 Games," Letta said late on Sunday. Rome hosted the Olympics in 1960 and its mayor, Ignazio Marino, said the city was ready to do so again. Italy's economic capital, Milan, which is already developing its infrastructure for hosting the World Expo in 2015, could also be selected for the bid instead of Rome. Several cities in the United States are considering taking a shot at it and South African International Olympic Committee member Sam Ramsany has said the city of Durban could make a bid. Source: AFP