PARIS (AP) β Three-time Olympic canoeing champion Tony Estanguet will join Bernard Lapasset as co-president of the Paris bid for the 2024 Olympics, placing a top athlete at the forefront of the campaign.
Previous bids from Paris for the 2012 Games and from Annecy for the 2018 Winter Games were both unsuccessful, and were perceived to have fallen short because of excessive government interference.
Estanguet, one of France’s most well-liked athletes and an IOC member, now takes up a more prominent role as Paris competes against Rome; Hamburg, Germany; Budapest, Hungary, and Los Angeles.
Etienne Thobois, chief executive of the Paris bid, announced Estanguet’s appointment Tuesday, saying “there are no better people to speak to sports people than sports people.”
The IOC will select the host city in 2017.
