Second part of our interview with Angela Ruggiero, director of strategy for Los Angeles' bid for the 2024 Games. The four-time Olympic ice hockey medalist, president of the IOC Athletes' Commission, details the Californian vision summer Olympics. And the desire of the bid team to fully play the innovation and new technologies card.

FrancsJeux: The United States lost the elections for the Games in quick succession in 2012, with New York, then those of 2016, with Chicago. What lessons have you learned from these two failures?

Angela Ruggiero: We learned from these failures. I believe that we learned the lessons, even if the context and especially the candidate cities were different. We surveyed IOC members to find out how they felt about past failures. But I am convinced that the Los Angeles candidacy can respond to the current challenges of the IOC and the Olympic movement. Both need to find a place among the youth. For this, Los Angeles can help them, with its position on the epicenter of innovation and startups. A very significant investment is currently being made by the IOC in the new Olympic channel and on digital platforms. We can accompany it and capture all this energy. We want to organize responsible Games. The other applications want it too, but we will not have to build new equipment. All sites in our file already exist or will be temporary. The Games we offer are not just a sporting event, they engage society and capitalize on youth. Ultimately, they would not only serve Los Angeles, they would contribute to the future of the Olympic movement.

You place a lot of emphasis on innovation and new technologies. Is this your trump card?

Of course. But if you look back and study the past, you can see that Los Angeles has been the cause of an Olympic breakthrough twice. In 1932, the LA Games innovated by offering the first athletes' village. In 1984, they were the first to imagine a way to market the event. This time, we are making a promise to the Olympic movement to organize the Games of Creativity and Innovation. We want to take advantage of the presence in California of companies like Apple or Facebook to take advantage of new technologies. The promise is ambitious, but we can keep it.

At the Rio de Janeiro Games last August, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti suggested at a press conference that this bid could be the last for the United States if it fails. For what ?

It is difficult for a city and a country to exert such energy, during such a long candidacy campaign, and ultimately fail. After the failures of New York for the 2012 Games, then Chicago for 2016, a defeat in Los Angeles would have consequences for the future of the Olympic movement in the United States. We might have to step back and ask ourselves if it's really worth it. Our application is privately funded. It is paid by people and companies who have a passion for the Games. LA 2024 President Casey Wasserman and Executive Director Gene Sykes have done a fantastic job in raising these funds. But it could be difficult to initiate such a process again if it fails.

Unlike France and Hungary, the United States is represented by two members on the IOC Executive Board, Anita DeFrantz and yourself. Is this an advantage?

This presence reflects above all our desire to regain our place within the Olympic movement. We were not as present in the past, but part of our efforts in recent years has been to renew dialogue. We have renegotiated revenue sharing with the IOC, we are organizing a greater number of international events. The appointment of Anita DeFrantz to the IOC Executive Board a few years ago demonstrated that she enjoyed the trust and support of the other members. For my part, I won my place there under the Athletes' Commission. I sit on this commission above all to represent them and carry their voice.