With last week’s announcement that Boston had been chosen as the United State’s nominee to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, a Town Councilor has proposed creating a group to take on the issue from Watertown’s perspective.
On Tuesday, Councilor Tony Palomba said he will propose creating an ad hoc Watertown Olympic Committee at the next Council meeting on Jan. 27.
“The committee’s role will be keeping Watertown in the mix as we move forward for potential planning for Boston and surrounding areas to host the 2024 Summer Olympics,” Palomba said.
Even if no events take place in Watertown, Palomba said he expects the town to be impacted by the major, two-week sporting event. Boston would also host the Paralympics if it wins the Summer Olympics.
Palomba mentioned he wanted to include the Town Council and the School Committee in the committee. He did not discuss what types of people would make up the committee.
The U.S. Olympic Committee chose Boston over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The application process really begins in September when the applicant cities are officially submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
In April or May 2016 the IOC will name the Candidate Cities – the finalists, according to the IOC’s website. Candidate cities will make their presentations in the summer of 2017 and the election of the 2024 Summer Olympics host will be named on Sept. 15, 2017, according to Wikipedia.
Rome has also officially entered the application process. Other cities considering bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics include a joint Hamburg, Germany/Copenhagen, Denmark bid; St. Petersburg, Russia; Paris, France; Istanbul, Turkey; Brisbane, Australia; Durban, South Africa; Doha, Qatar; and Casablanca, Morocco, according to Wikipedia.