Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was expected to be in the Middle Eastern emirate of Qatar Sunday, mainly to present the city’s case to host the 2024 Olympics to the Association of National Olympic Committees, an aide said.
He left LAX on the same day Saturday as up to 10,000 marchers in downtown Los Angeles protested the election of Donald Trump as president. The protest was mainly peaceful, however, with a few people arrested.
Garcetti will also meet with Qatar’s minister of finance and the group chief executive of Qatar Airways during his visit to Doha, Qatar’s capital, according to Connie Llanos, the mayor’s press secretary.
Garcetti will be in Qatar through Wednesday, Llanos said.
LA 2024, which is seeking to bring the 2024 Olympics to Los Angeles, will make its first official candidate city presentation to International Olympic Committee members on Tuesday at the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly.
Garcetti and six-time Olympic track gold medalist Allyson Felix will lead LA 2024’s delegation, which also includes Vice Chair Janet Evans, a four- time Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, Chairman Casey Wasserman and U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun, according to Jeff Millman, LA2024’s chief communications officer.
The primary focus of the LA 2024 team at the General Assembly will be observing the sessions and meeting with leaders from the 205 national Olympic committees, Millman said.
LA2024’s other official presentations to IOC members will be made in July 2017 in Lausanne, Switzerland and the final presentation in September 2017 in Lima, Peru when the host city for the 2024 Olympics will be selected.
Paris and Budapest, Hungary are also seeking to host the 2024 Games.
LA2024 is paying the travel expenses for Garcetti and two mayoral aides, Llanos told City News Service. Garcetti is also traveling with his chief protocol officer and a Los Angeles Police Department security detail, Llanos said.
— From Staff and Wire Reports