Macron to attend IOC’s Lima vote for Paris’s 2024 Olympic bid

French President Emmanuel Macron will attend the International Olympic Committee’s 13 September vote in Lima that will determine the host city for the 2024 Olympics, Paris bid team member Guy Drut announced on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, Patrick Baumann, president of the International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission and member of the IOC Guy Drut at the Elysee Place in Paris on May 16, 2017. Gonzalo Fuentes/REUTERS

“Emmanuel Macron told the head of the IOC’s evaluation commission Patrick Baumann that he would definitely be in Lausanne for the IOC’s debriefing and also in Lima on 13 September,” Drut, France's 110m hurdle champion at the 1976 Games, said.

Paris is battling with Los Angeles for the right to stage the Games in 2024.

Macron's commitment to securing the Olympics was underlined by his one-hour meeting with the IOC taking place just two days after his inauguration as France’s president.

Macron is a strong supporter of the Paris bid to host the Olympics for the first time in a century and even before Sunday’s investiture he had telephoned Olympic chief Thomas Bach to confirm his support.

IOC officials visit sites

Manwhile, officials from the evaluation team admitted that they would have to nitpick to find fault after spending inspecting potential sites for the Paris 2024 bid on Monday.

The inspection team, who examined rival bidders Los Angeles last week, started their day with a visit to the Eiffel Tower, followed by a visit to Stade de France, Roland Garros and Champ de Mars.

“To find fault, you really need to nitpick,” Baumann said at the end of the inspection. "We had confirmation that with the Champs-de-Mars, the Grand Palais, Roland Garros, everything's there!"