FILE – In this Saturday, June 19, 2004 file photo, Donald Trump carries the Olympic Flame on New York’s Fifth Avenue during day 15 of the 2004 Athens Torch Relay. The Olympic torch snaked through the streets of New York while raising hopes of a possible 2012 Olympics for the Big Apple. President-elect Donald Trump has been a longtime admirer of the Olympics. He also likes winning. That should make him a natural supporter of the effort to bring the Olympics back to Los Angeles in 2024. (AP Photo/Chad Rachman, Pool, File)
President-elect Donald Trump has spoken by phone with the head of the International Olympic Committee to voice his support for Los Angeles’ bid to host the 2024 Games.
The Los Angeles bid committee says on Twitter that Trump spoke with IOC President Thomas Bach “to express his strong support” for the Olympics and for the city’s “plans to host a great Games.”
Los Angeles, which is competing against Paris and Budapest, Hungary, is seeking to bring the Summer Olympics back to the U.S. for the first time since Atlanta hosted the 1996 Games. The IOC will select the host city on Sept. 13, 2017, in Lima, Peru.
Trump spoke with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti last week and told him he supported the Olympic bid.
U.S. Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix sought to allay any IOC concerns about Trump’s election in a speech to Olympic delegates last month in Doha, Qatar, saying: “Please don’t doubt us. America’s diversity is our greatest strength.”
