IOC Evaluation Commission impressed by potential Paris 2024 venues

International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission president Patrick Baumann holds a final news conference following meetings and tours as part of LA 2024's bid for the Summer 2024 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California, US, May 12, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission delegation said it was impressed by the Paris bid's enthusiasm as demonstrated in a "productive" and "interesting" one-day venue tour in the French capital on Monday.

"The day has been extremely productive and interesting," said IOC Evaluation Commission president Patrick Baumann in a media briefing.

"It's quite obvious that the passion and enthusiasm for these Games on the different sites and venues that we visited were quite impressive," he added.

The IOC delegation was scheduled to visit proposed venues and iconic backdrops for the 2024 Games, including the Eiffel Tower, Roland Garros and the Stade de France. They also had a tour of the Olympic village and media village.

After spending the morning together visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Seine river and the Olympic village, the delegation was separated into three groups to cover different proposed Olympic venues.

"We can really feel a great deal of passion and enthusiasm around this bid and this bid committee. I'd like to thank you for your professionalism and for the energy and passion you have shown throughout," said Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games executive director from the IOC.

Baumann has used the mandate of the delegation's visit to help the Paris bid committee make their proposal an even better, raising questions about whether some weak points have been found in Paris after day two of the inspection.

"As far as weak points are concerned, I think you would have to be really picky here to try to find weak points. Today we had the confirmation that some venues already exist and are perfectly managed, so it's very difficult to try to find weak points," commented the IOC Evaluation Commission head.

The delegation plans to have a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday morning, before they had a press conference to wrap up their work in Paris.

"This will be another demonstration of what we have already received from the state and French public authorities in terms of the guarantee that they support 100 percent the attention paid to these Games and the bid," said Baumann.

Paris and Los Angeles are the two remaining candidate cities vying to host the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. The winning city will be announced at the IOC's session in Lima, Peru on September 13.

"There is no favorite in this competition. In any competition, each one tries to be the best and I think that we will be the best. It's an open competition," said the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.