Will there be a Donald Trump effect on the race for the 2024 Games? Will the victory of the Republican candidate, Wednesday November 9, have an impact on Los Angeles' chances against Budapest and Paris? These two questions were already agitating the small world of the Olympic movement before the American vote. Since the announcement of the result, the media around the world have taken up the subject, sometimes even before the first words of the new President of the United States.
For many, a Donald Trump at the head of the country constitutes “bad news”, even a “hard blow”, even a “catastrophe” for the candidacy of Los Angeles for the 2024 Games. A prediction that is certainly excessive. A reasoning that is undoubtedly too rapid and certainly simplistic.
A few hours after the results of the vote were made official, the Californian candidacy committee published a press release. A short, sober text, but not devoid of interest. The LA 2024 team “congratulates President-elect Donald J. Trump and appreciates his long-standing support of the Olympic movement in the United States.” She emphasizes her belief that “the Olympics and LA24 transcend political issues and can help unify our diverse communities and our world. » The Californian team also recalls, in its press release, having reached a population support rate of 88% in the latest polls, and at the same time obtained strong political support in both parties, at the local level as well as at those of the state of California or federal authorities. Finally, Los Angeles 2024 says it “looks forward to working with Donald J. Trump and his administration” to host “New Games for a New Era.”
From Lausanne, Thomas Bach also took up his pen to congratulate the new president of the United States. Here too, a sober and quick text. “I wish him the best for his mandate, for the citizens of the United States and for those around the world,” said the IOC President.
Behind the words, reality presents itself in a very nuanced way. Certainly, Donald J. Trump's comments during his campaign seem unlikely to attract the sympathy of some of the IOC members, in particular women, Hispanics and representatives of the Arab world. But the leaders of the Olympic organization do not vote for the president of a country, they choose a city and a project. Above all, in the past they have never shown any great concern to favor the most politically acceptable options. Didn't they massively vote for Sochi 2014, an issue supported at arm's length by Vladimir Putin?
10 months before the election, the victory of Donald J. Trump may appear at first glance as a scenario a priori less favorable to LA 2024 than the success announced too quickly by Hillary Clinton. The Democrat, a fervent and long-time ally of the Olympic cause, is considered close to the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, and the head of the candidacy, Casey Wasserman. But it is not forbidden to think that the result of the American election could ultimately have no effect on the race for the 2024 Games, neither for good nor for bad.
The South African Sam Ramsamy, one of the elders of the IOC, suggested it on Wednesday November 9 to Associated Press: “He (Donald Trump) was rude to everyone. But I don't believe that this (his victory) will influence the candidacy in one way or another. » Same story with René Fasel, one of the Swiss members of the IOC, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. “You saw his speech today, he is already a different man,” he told AP in reference to the radical change in tone between the candidate and President Donald Trump.
One thing is certain: the Los Angeles team will have to face the floods of “Trumpian” questions asked by the international press next week in Doha, where it will be invited to present its case and its vision during the general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). She knows it. She is preparing for it. At this stage of the campaign, the exercise is never without benefit for the events to come.
