In the race for the 2024 Summer Games, the Americans are not afraid of leaving first.
At the risk of stealing the start. Unlike the French, all agree to swear their
great gods that mentioning a candidacy from Paris now is “premature”, they make no secret of their intentions. Last February, the American Olympic Committee (USOC) sent a very
official to the mayors of 35 cities in the United States, just to gauge their motivation to embark on the adventure. A deliberately very broad list, and eclectic to say the least, since it included New York and Los Angeles as well as Rochester, a quiet city in the state of New York with 210.000 inhabitants.

The result was not long in coming. And, let's face it, he impresses. According to Scott Blackmun,
the boss of the USOC, at least ten cities have expressed interest in a candidacy.
Two have done so very officially, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Some have asked not to be publicly revealed, at least for now. New York could be in the mix. The mayor of
Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dewey Bartlett told the U.S. Olympic Committee of his plans to
Olympic Games placed under the sign of Indian heritage. Conversely, Chicago has already withdrawn from
the race. Its failure against Rio, for the 2016 Games, left some traces and, incidentally, an addition of 90 million dollars.

The latest proposal received by the USOC may come as a surprise. Earlier this week, Scott Blackmun was reportedly approached by California representatives about a joint bid from San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, a city located just across the U.S. border. The president of the USOC assured that he had not yet had time to “study it in great detail.” » But this project would be contrary to the Olympic charter, because it is carried out jointly by two neighboring countries.

At the USOC, this influx of mail from all over the country gives color to everyone. Despite the successive failures of New York (2012) and Chicago (2016), the United States still vibrates for the Olympic ideal. Scott Blackmun repeats like a refrain that no timetable has yet been established, nor has it been decided very precisely what process would be chosen to designate the candidate city for the election of the 2024 Games, scheduled in 2017. But one thing is certain: the Americans will be in the race. And they could well be the favorites.

Without trying to fathom the unfathomable, it appears clear that the prospect of an American candidacy for the 2024 Games should have an influence on the ballot for the 2020 Games. Between Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo, the American members of the IOC could be tempted to vote for one of the first two. A victory for a European capital would indeed significantly reduce the chances of another city from the Old Continent of winning four years later. It would keep files from the United States that are a priori as solid as those, declared or not, prepared by Rome, Berlin or Paris.