Prudent and skillful, Thomas Bach. The IOC President spent Monday February 1 in Los Angeles, under azure blue skies but in chilly weather. He distributed smiles without counting them. He had a lot of fun, on a football field, in a gym, and he didn't hide it. He listened, a lot, spoke, a little. He said he was impressed by his tour of the facilities proposed by the Los Angeles 2024 team in its bid file.
But when it came time to release a secret or two about the Americans' chances in the race for the Games, Thomas Bach closed up like an oyster. “We have a fascinating competition ahead of us,” he told the media. But there will be no silver medal or bronze medal. Only gold will be distributed. » Difficult to be more airtight.
After his Sunday evening at the Staples Center, in front of a Lakers game, Thomas Bach ran through Monday. At 8 a.m. sharp, breakfast with Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, and Herb Wesson, the president of the City Council. Nothing filtered out of the conversation, except that it was a question of the two Californians repeating the city's commitment to the Olympic project.
Next stop, the campus of USC, the university recently chosen by the LA2024 team as the site of the media village. “You are very lucky to already have so much sports equipment,” admitted Thomas Bach. For the occasion, the American bid had asked the two bosses of the university, its president C. L. Max Nikias and its number 2 Todd Dickey, to lead the visit, with the mission of emphasizing the campus renovation project.
In the afternoon, new university stop. At UCLA this time. One of the jewels of the Los Angeles Olympic plan. The choice of the bid team for the athletes’ village. Once again, no one was missed. Gene Block, the “chancellor” of universality, and his second, Steve Olsen, joined the troupe for lunch in the huge campus dining room. Above all, Thomas Bach shared his visit to the site with an impressive delegation of Olympians: Janet Evans, Kobe Bryant, Nadia Comaneci, Bart Conner, Allyson Felix and Carl Lewis. Not bad.
Anecdotal but never unpleasant: Thomas Bach received from Mayor Eric Garcetti the gift of a blue jacket from the American Olympic team, he kicked a ball with soccer players from the university and accompanied Nadia Comaneci on the gymnastics room apparatus (bottom photo). The photographers appreciated it.
At the end of the day, the IOC President visited the Getty Center Museum and had dinner with the directors of Los Angeles 2024 and around thirty business leaders from the Californian city, including Bob Iger, the president of the Disney group.
“All this is very well prepared,” slipped Thomas Bach. Before delivering a more official speech: “You have done an excellent job trying to imagine how, in accordance with Agenda 2020, you can weave a link between your very beautiful Olympic heritage and an even greater Olympic future. »
Obviously, Thomas Bach’s visit was a success. Not really a surprise. The Americans know how to entertain, they pulled out all the stops and summoned enough big names from the Games to give the IOC President and his team (including Christophe de Kepper, Marcus Hausen, Mark Adams and Marina Baramia) the impression of 'evolve in an environment imbued with Olympism.
But there is still a long way to go. Anita DeFrantz, present from the first to the last moment, knows it. “It was a first step,” explained Los Angeles Times the former rower, member of the IOC Executive Board. A short but real opportunity to show Thomas Bach our project. My other fellow IOC members will now have to understand what the Los Angeles of the 21st century is. But for that we have time. »
