LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Finally, Los Angeles and Paris have their Olympic hosting destiny in their own hands.

If they can agree who goes first, each city will be awarded either the 2024 or 2028 Summer Games in September.

International Olympic Committee members voted unanimously on Tuesday to seek a consensus three-way deal between the two bid cities and the IOC executive board. Talks will open with Paris widely seen as the favorite for 2024.

If a deal falls through, only the 2024 hosting rights will be voted on when the IOC next meets, on Sept. 13 in Lima, Peru.

However, an agreement seemed assured, judging by the reaction of the two mayors.

"I have full confidence that we will get there," LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a celebratory news conference for both candidates and IOC President Thomas Bach.

Garcetti and Anne Hidalgo, his friend and counterpart from Paris, had emerged on stage seconds after the vote, holding hands, to welcome the decision. They were joined by Bach, who raised an arm of each in a shared gesture of triumph.

The mood looked set to continue over dinner at the IOC's favored five-star hotel, the Lausanne Palace.

The Franco-American alliance continues later this week. U.S. President Donald Trump is due in Paris to join President Emmanuel Macron for Bastille Day on Friday, the national holiday.

Macron was in the Olympic capital city Tuesday to promoting the Parisian cause — in a closed-door session with IOC members to explain how they would host the 2024 Olympics, and a subsequent news conference.

The presidential push was judged necessary by Paris, which has failed with three recent Olympic bids.

"We lost three times, we don't want to lose a fourth one," Macron said at the news conference. "I'm here to convey the message that there's a strong unity to back this candidacy."

Minutes after Macron spoke, Trump wrote on Twitter: "Working hard to get the Olympics for the United States (L.A.). Stay tuned!"

Even without help from heads of state, LA and Paris are likely to reach a deal. A head-to-head fight for 2024 would create a loser that is unlikely to return four years later for a new 2028 bid contest.

"Both of us will find it more and more difficult to convince cities — whether it's Paris, Los Angeles or other American cities — to really go into this process if one of us gets turned down," Garcetti had said earlier Tuesday.

A deal to make both cities winners would fulfil a strategy that Bach set in motion last December to help safeguard a stable future for the signature Olympic event.

Asked when a 2024-2028 agreement could be sealed, Bach suggested: "If you ask me, I hope that in August we could be there."

The IOC approved the expected double award after hearing both cities present their 2024 hosting plans at a conference center in its home city.

Both cities used 45 minutes of videos and speeches in a closed-door session with IOC members to explain how they would host the 2024 Olympics.

At separate news conferences, the mayors said they could work toward a deal.

"We look forward to working together, maybe not in competition but collaboration with Paris," Garcetti said.

Garcetti and Hidalgo have long touted their good relations, and on Tuesday noted their cities' common positions on issues such as climate change and welcoming refugees.

Hidalgo cited her friendship with Garcetti as potentially a "key element" in the expected deal.

The dual award can give the IOC a decade of stability with two world-class cities touting financially secure bids. LA plans to use only existing venues with zero risk of white elephants. This follows years of overspending by Olympic hosts and a series of political defeats that have sunk the campaigns of potential candidates.

It also avoids inflicting a third recent defeat on Paris — which lost with bids for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics — and the United States. New York and Chicago both lost heavily for 2012 and 2016, respectively.

Those losses deepened a rift between the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Swiss-based IOC that LA 2024 and a new team of American officials have worked hard to heal.

Paris also failed with a 1992 bid and pinned its hopes on hosting in 2024, exactly 100 years after its previous Summer Games.

Garcetti said the Olympic movement "can't afford to lose the United States."

The IOC's most valuable TV rights deal is with NBC and several of its top-tier sponsors are American.

Still, a 2028 Olympics in Southern California could be the first American-hosted games since 1996 in Atlanta.

Bach has said the idea of a double award was presented to him at a lunch last year by friends whom he declined to identify in a recent interview with French sports daily L'Equipe.

The LA bid team declined to comment Tuesday whether the suggestion came from its supporters, as some believe.

"He (Bach) has good friends who gave him good advice," LA bid chairman Casey Wasserman said. </s> LAUSANNE – With French President Emmanuel Macron joining Paris in presenting its bid to the International Olympic Committee, President Donald Trump offered his support of the Los Angeles bid in a tweet early Tuesday.

Los Angeles and Paris presented their bids for the 2024 Olympics here at the SwissTech Convention Center on Tuesday morning. Mayor Eric Garcetti led the Los Angeles bid, while Macron led Paris’ effort.

Asked about Trump, Macron focused on what his support of Paris 2024 here meant for the Olympics. He and Trump are meeting in Paris on Thursday, and Macron said the leaders would discuss issues they agree on, including the fight against terrorism and the war in Syria, as well as others they disagree on.

“As to my presence here, it’s only a positive signal. I’m not presenting this candidacy as a reaction against something else,” Macron said.

“I think that the meaning of our candidature is not a reaction against something. It’s just that France is ready and our desire is to be the bidding city for 2024.”

Trump has supported the Los Angeles bid since he was elected in November. He and Garcetti spoke about the bid in a phone call then.

Most recently, Trump hosted IOC President Thomas Bach at the White House last month.

Asked about Trump on Tuesday, Garcetti said the bid has the support of the federal government. Should Los Angeles get the Olympics, it would be designated as a National Special Security Event, making the federal government responsible for security.

The bid has also been assured that international delegations would be able to get into the country for the event. A ban for travelers from of six predominantly Muslim countries, which Trump first signed in late January, has faced a series of losses in federal courts.

The Supreme Court reinstated part of it last month and will hear the case in October.

“The Olympics is one of the few things that unites us in the United States right now,” Garcetti said. “The White House has been wonderful and supportive and has issued letters saying not only with athletes and the delegations get in for the Olympics, but also the test events leading up to the Olympics.

“We have real political unity. We feel confident about the logistics of the immigration that needs to happen for the Games.” </s> IOC President Thomas Bach next to Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti ratifies Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 host cities for Olympics games during the 131st IOC session in Lima. ― Reuters picLIMA, Sept 14 ― Paris was awarded the 2024 summer Olympics and Los Angeles the 2028 Games yesterday, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) broke with decades of tradition to vote on a unique double allocation.

Paris, which has hosted two previous Olympics, will stage the event 100 years after its last Games in 1924 while Los Angeles will also organise its third Games after 1932 and 1984.

IOC President Thomas Bach embraced both cities' mayors on stage after a unanimous show of hands by IOC members ratified the awards.

The announcement was celebrated in Paris with the unveiling of a giant set of interlaced rings, the symbol of the Games, in a heavy downpour on the Trocadero square with lights glittering on the Eiffel Tower in the background.

“In the coming seven years we will prepare the Olympic Games with all our energy,” French President Emmanuel Macron, who had personally campaigned for the bid, said.

“Together we must do everything in our power to ensure that Paris hosts a magnificent games in 2024.”

The IOC decided in July to award both Games at the same time, following the withdrawal of four of the six cities bidding for the 2024 Olympics, amid concerns about the size, cost and complexity of organising the world's biggest multi-sports event.

Los Angeles then dropped its bid for the 2024 Olympics, for which it had been campaigning for over two years, in return for receiving the 2028 edition. This paved the way for Paris as the sole 2024 bidder to win the Games unopposed.

“This is a momentous day for the people of Los Angeles and the United States,” said LA mayor Eric Garcetti. “For the first time in a generation, we are bringing the Games back to the City of Angels.”

Paris, with a Games budget of €6.8 billion (RM28.52 billion), had failed with previous attempts to land the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

The LA Games have a budget of US$5.3 billion and will essentially follow the plan they had in place for 2024, including housing athletes at the UCLA campus.

Both Paris's bid co-chair Tony Estanguet and LA bid chairman Casey Wasserman are to stay on and lead the host cities' preparations, mayors Anne Hidalgo and Garcetti confirmed in a news conference after the announcement.

It is the first time the IOC has awarded a Games 11 years in advance, as it traditionally gives the next Olympic host city seven years to prepare.

The Olympic body, however, was eager to secure the future of its prime product after Boston, Budapest, Rome and Hamburg all pulled the plug on their 2024 bids mid-race.

Bach said the unanimous IOC decision would secure the future of the Games and ensure successful Olympics.

“It is hard to imagine something better. Ensuring the stability of the Olympic Games for the athletes of the world for the next 11 years is something extraordinary,” he said.

Both the 2014 winter Games in Russia's Sochi and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics were mired in controversy over corruption, embezzlement and doping allegations, dealing a major blow to the reputations of the event and the IOC.

Tokyo, the host of the next summer Games in 2020, has also had to fend off allegations of corruption regarding the decision to award it the Games four years ago. ― Reuters </s> Paris and Los Angeles are probably getting the Summer Olympics for 2024 and 2028. It's just not clear which city will host in which year.

The International Olympic Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to break with tradition and award two games at once.

Paris and LA are the only competitors left for 2024. But it's been clear since early this year that the IOC is leaning toward awarding the next two games at the same time, to streamline the selection process and provide greater financial stability to the games.

Hosting a modern Olympics practically guarantees massive debt and cost overruns, and many cities have abandoned bids recently. Researchers at Oxford's Saïd Business School estimate the cost overrun for the 2016 Summer Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, was $1.6 billion.

"Brazil is not a unique case. All summer and winter games that we've studied have shown cost overruns," wrote Bent Flyvbjerg, the lead researcher. "For a city and country to host the games is a huge undertaking and one of the most costly and financially risky megaprojects they can undertake."

Related: Why nobody wants to host the Olympic Games

IOC Vice President John Coates suggested Tuesday that the Paris and Los Angeles Olympic committees will be left to figure out who should host in which year. The decision would then be ratified in September.

If the two cities can't settle the question of who would get which games, the IOC would decide in September. In that case, the 2028 games could be open to additional bidders.

Paris and Los Angeles were left as the only contenders for 2024 when Budapest withdrew its bid in February. Officials from both Paris and Los Angeles had stressed that their cities already have more than 90% of the facilities they need to host, reducing the additional cost.

Before the announcement, President Trump tweeted that he is "working hard to get the Olympics for the United States." He has been on record supporting Los Angeles' bid since shortly after his election in November, and reportedly called IOC President Thomas Bach to lobby for the city.

Bach first raised the possibility of awarding the 2024 and 2028 games at once, saying in December that tapping one city at a time "produces too many losers." The IOC's executive board voted last month in favor of awarding both games at the same time. The full IOC voted Tuesday. </s> (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP). International Olympic Committee, IOC, President Thomas Bach, left, from Germany welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron, 2nd left, and the Paris 2024 delegation with Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, 3rd left, duri...

(Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP). The Los Angeles 2024 delegation attend the presentation of Los Angeles 2024 Candidate City Briefing for International Olympic Committee (IOC) Members, with, from left, Candace Cable, Director of Paralympic and ...

(Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP). International Olympic Committee, IOC, President Thomas Bach, 2nd left, from Germany welcomes Allyson Felix, US Sprinter and all the delegation during the presentation of Los Angeles 2024 Candidate City Briefing f...

(Valentin Flauraud/Keystone via AP). French President Emmanuel Macron arrives for the presentation of Paris 2024 Candidate City Briefing for International Olympic Committee (IOC) Members, at the SwissTech Convention Centre, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tu...

(Valentin Flauraud/Keystone via AP). Eric Garcetti Mayor of Los Angeles, gestures as he arrives for the presentation of Los Angeles 2024 Candidate City Briefing for International Olympic Committee (IOC) Members, at the SwissTech Convention Centre, in L...

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - The IOC has decided it can pick both Los Angeles and Paris as Olympic host cities in September when the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games rights should be awarded at the same time.

International Olympic Committee members voted unanimously Tuesday to seek a consensus three-way deal between the two bid cities and the IOC executive board. Talks will open with Paris widely seen as favorite for 2024.

If a deal falls through, only the 2024 hosting rights will be voted on when the IOC next meets Sept. 13 in Lima, Peru.

Agreement seemed assured by the reaction of the two mayors. Eric Garcetti of LA and Anne Hidalgo of Paris emerged on stage holding hands to acclaim the decision.

The mayors were joined by IOC President Thomas Bach who raised an arm of each in a shared gesture of triumph.

A deal to make both cities winners would fulfil a strategy Bach set in motion last December to help safeguard a stable future for the signature Olympic event.

"With Los Angeles and Paris, there are two fantastic cities from countries with a profound Olympic history," Bach said earlier.

The IOC approved the expected double award after hearing both cities present their 2024 hosting plan at a conference center in the Olympic capital city Lausanne.

Both cities used 45 minutes of videos and speeches, including French President Emmanuel Macron promoting the Paris cause, in a closed-door session with International Olympic Committee members to explain how they would host the 2024 Olympics.

Earlier Tuesday, the mayors of Los Angeles and Paris said they could work toward a deal.

"We look forward to working together maybe not in competition but collaboration with Paris," LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a news conference after his city's bid officials opened the campaign event.

Garcetti and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo have long touted their good relations on other issues such as climate change.

"We are all at the disposition and by the side of the IOC which was right to ask itself this question," Hidalgo said at the Paris news conference, citing her friendship with Garcetti as potentially a "key element" to reaching an agreement.

The dual award can give the IOC a decade of stability with two world-class cities touting financially secure bids. LA plans to use only existing venues with zero risk of white elephant venues. This follows years of overspending by Olympic hosts and political defeats to sink potential candidates.

The win-win option also guards against a 2024 loser refusing to bid again for 2028.

It also avoids inflicting a third recent defeat on Paris - which lost with bids for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics - and the United States. New York and Chicago both lost heavily for 2012 and 2016, respectively. Paris also failed with a 1992 bid.

"We lost three times, we don't want to lose a fourth one," Macron said at the news conference. "I'm here to convey the message that there's a strong unity to back this candidacy."

Minutes after Macron spoke, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: "Working hard to get the Olympics for the United States (L.A.). Stay tuned!"

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> This comes as both Los Angeles and its sole rival for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, French capital Paris, have pledged sustainability issues as a key part of their respective bids.

The Agreement, signed in 2015, required each signatory country to determine its own contribution it should make in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

It was presented as a key means to bring all nations together to meet collective targets to combat global warming.

The US now joins Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries to have rejected the agreement.

They are hoping to negotiate a new deal which would better better benefit American workers.

Garcetti, the Democrat Mayor of Los Angeles who frequently opposes the Republican administration of Trump, immediately criticised the decision.

“Climate change is a fact of life that people in Los Angeles and cities around the world live with every day," he said in a statement.

"It is a grave threat to our health, our environment, and our economy - and it is not debatable or negotiable.

“This is an urgent challenge, and it’s much bigger than one person.

"With the President pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, LA will lead by committing to the goals of the accord - and will work closely with cities across America and the world to do the same.”

Garcetti is a co-founder of a "Mayors National Climate Action Agenda" which has supported adopting the resolutions of the Paris deal in their respective cities across the country.

It is unclear whether many voting International Olympic Committee (IOC) members would be affected by Trump's decision, but sustainability is a central plank of the Agenda 2020 reforms introduced by President Thomas Bach in 2014.

Jeff Immelt, the chairman and chief executive of General Electric, a member of the IOC's The Olympic Programme (TOP) sponsorship scheme, was among others to criticise the decision via social media.

"Disappointed with today’s decision on the Paris Agreement," he tweeted.

"Industry must now lead and not depend on Government."

Yiannis Exarchos, the chief executive of Olympic Broadcasting Services, also posted: "I have a feeling that this may prove to be a pivotal moment in US history...

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and French President Emmanuel Macron have also each criticised the decision.

Hidalgo said Trump has made a "dramatic mistake" while Macron took the unusual step of speaking in English from the steps of the Elysée Palace when claiming he thought it was an "actual mistake both for the US and for our planet".

Paris 2024 have particularly heralded sustainability building on the success of the Paris Agreement as a key part of their bid.

Hidalgo spoke about these issues at length during the city's first bid presentation at the Association of National Olympic Committee General Assembly in Doha in November.

Los Angeles have been slightly less vocal, but insists that their bid concept requiring no new venues perfectly embraces sustainability.

They also unveiled a Sustainability and Legacy Committee during last month's Evaluation Commission inspection visit to the city.

It is possible that these recent developments could also impact the ongoing discussions to award both the 2024 and 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games this year.

Paris is currently thought more likely to land the 2024 edition while Los Angeles would then host in 2028.

Trump is currently a supporter of the LA bid despite his tense relations with Garcetti.

He is expected to invite Bach to the White House for a meeting over the next few weeks.

An IOC spokesperson has told insidethegames that there is "nothing concrete as yet" when asked if a date had been proposed. </s> >Lima: Paris and Los Angeles celebrated their coronation as host cities for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics on Wednesday, delivering a jolt of good news for the International Olympic Committee as it battles escalating corruption allegations.

In a drama-free conclusion to a three-year bidding race, IOC members voted unanimously to rubber-stamp a deal hashed out in July for Paris to be given 2024 and Los Angeles 2028.

The pre-ordained outcome did little to dampen celebrations inside the Lima Convention Centre, where Paris and Los Angeles officials cheered and congratulated each other.

IOC President Thomas Bach " a driving force behind the decision to confirm 2024 and 2028 at the same time " hailed the joint award as a "win-win-win."

"It's a magical, unique victory," said jubilant Paris 2024 bid co-leader Tony Estanguet as French President Emmanuel Macron saluted a "victory for France."

"This was the right answer, it was about fraternity, it was about friendship, it was about finding a win-win," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told AFP.

IOC chief Bach meanwhile said the Olympic movement had secured the result "we were looking for."

"I couldn't be more happy than I am right now," Bach said. "We have the two best possible games for the Olympics in 2024 and 2028, in two great Olympic countries."

The vote marked the final act of a campaign that had been stripped of the usual intrigue ever since Paris and Los Angeles agreed to carve up 2024 and 2028 following encouragement from the IOC.

The 2024 Games will mark the third time Paris has staged the Olympics, coming exactly 100 years after they last hosted the Games. Since then, France had made three unsuccessful bids for the Olympics.

"It's a great feeling of happiness to be bringing the Games back to Paris after 100 years," Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said.

In Paris, giant Olympic rings were unveiled in front of the Eiffel Tower just after the announcement was made as a small crowd celebrated in driving rain.

The 2028 Olympics will be the first held in the United States since the chaotic 1996 Games in Atlanta.

It will also mark the third time that Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics following successful editions in 1932 and 1984.

Paris and Los Angeles emerged from the initial bidding race for the 2024 Games after a number of cities withdrew citing waning public support and concerns over budget.

Hamburg, Rome, Budapest and Boston all fell by the wayside during the competition, reflecting the political difficulties in persuading voters that staging the Olympics is worth the multi-billion-dollar price tag.

IOC chief Bach first signalled publicly that the double-award of an Olympics could be on the agenda in December last year, lamenting that the bidding process produced "too many losers".

As the tussle for 2024 unfolded, and as the field thinned to leave just Los Angeles and Paris, the IOC's determination to secure two high-quality bids for the next two summer games became apparent.

In July, the IOC announced it would award the staging rights for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics at the same meeting in Lima, laying the way for a swift agreement between the two over the running order.

"We cracked the code when the IOC changed the formula," Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti told AFP.

"We've talked to a lot of folks who said it used to be about one corner of the room celebrating and the rest crying...I think we showed that dreams can come true."

The smooth finish to the race also eliminates the risk of the vote being tainted by the sort of scandal that has embroiled the ballot for the 2016 Olympics.

The IOC was left tackling a fresh wave of graft allegations last week when investigators in Brazil swooped on the country's Olympics chief Carlos Nuzman.

Nuzman stands accused of plotting to bribe IOC members into awarding Rio de Janeiro the 2016 Games at a 2009 vote in Copenhagen.

The allegations swirling around Rio's bid revived memories of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, which led to 20 IOC members being either kicked out of the Olympics' ruling body or pleading guilty to accepting bribes for votes.

French investigators meanwhile have already announced they are investigating the 2013 vote in Buenos Aires which awarded the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo, following reports of secret payments into a Singapore-based bank account linked to the son of disgraced former world athletics chief Lamine Diack.

IOC official Dick Pound, who has been critical of Bach's handling of recent corruption and doping scandals, believes the movement can however have reason to celebrate after Wednesday's joint award.

"You've got Paris and Los Angeles locked in for the next two games, on top of Tokyo," Pound said.

"So that's three first-class host cities in a row. That's an excellent outcome." View More </s> LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles reached an agreement Monday with international Olympic leaders that will open the way for the city to host the 2028 Summer Games, while ceding the 2024 Games to rival Paris, officials announced Monday.

The deal would make LA a three-time Olympic city, after hosting the 1932 and 1984 Games.

With the agreement, the city is taking “a major step toward bringing the Games back to our city for the first time in a generation,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement.

He called it a “historic day for Los Angeles, for the United States” and the Olympic movement.

The agreement follows a vote earlier this month by the International Olympic Committee to seek an unusual deal to award the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously. Paris is the only city left to host the 2024 Games.

The Los Angeles City Council and U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors will consider the agreement for approval in August. If approved, the IOC, LA and Paris may enter a three-part agreement, clearing the way for the IOC to simultaneously award the 2024 Games to Paris, and the 2028 Games to LA. The IOC vote is scheduled for September, in Lima, Peru.

In a statement, the Paris bid committee welcomed the announcement in Los Angeles but stopped short of confirming the obvious, that Paris is in line for the 2024 Games.

“Paris 2024 is proud to be working together with the IOC and our friends in Los Angeles to reach a positive solution for both cities, the Games and the whole Olympic Movement for 2024 and 2028,” committee co-chair Tony Estanguet said.

In embracing what amounted to the second-place prize and an 11-year wait, LA will receive a financial sweetener.

Under the terms of the deal, the IOC will advance funds to the Los Angeles organizing committee to recognize the extended planning period and to increase youth sports programs leading up to the Games. The IOC contribution could exceed $2 billion, according to LA officials. That figure takes into account the estimated value of existing sponsor agreements that would be renewed, as well as potential new marketing deals.

The delay to 2028 opens a host of questions for Los Angeles, which is looking at the prospect of retooling its multibillion-dollar plans for more than a decade into the future. It would face challenges from maintaining public interest to recasting deals for stadiums, arenas and housing that have been in the works for months and even years.

LA and Paris were the last two bids remaining after a tumultuous process that exposed the unwillingness of cities to bear the financial burden of hosting an event that has become synonymous with cost overruns.

LA was not even the first American entrant in the contest. Boston withdrew two years ago as public support for its bid collapsed over concerns about use of taxpayer cash. The U.S. bid switched from the east to the West Coast as LA entered the race.

But the same apprehensions that spooked politicians and the local population in Boston soon became evident in Europe where three cities pulled out.

Uncomfortably for IOC President Thomas Bach, whose much-vaunted Agenda 2020 reforms were designed to make hosting more streamlined and less costly after the lavish 2014 Sochi Games, the first withdrawal came from his homeland of Germany.

The lack of political unity for a bid in Hamburg was mirrored in Rome and Budapest as support for bids waned among local authorities and the population. It was clear they did not want to be saddled with skyrocketing bills for hosting the Olympics without reaping many of the economic benefits anticipated.

Just like in the depleted field for the 2022 Winter Games which saw Beijing defeat Almaty, the IOC was left with only two candidates again.

With two powerful cities left vying for 2024, Bach realized France or the U.S. could be deterred from going through another contest for 2028 if they lost. Bach floated the idea in December of making revisions to the bidding process to prevent it producing “too many losers,” building support that led to LA and Paris being able to figure out themselves how to share the 2024 and 2028 Games.

The dual award of the games relieves the IOC of having to test the global interest in hosting the Summer Olympics for several years until the 2032 Games are up for grabs.

The opportunity to host the Games “is a golden occasion further strengthening Los Angeles — not just through bricks and mortar, but through new opportunities for our communities to watch, play and benefit from sport,” Wesson said. </s> LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The IOC has decided it can pick both Los Angeles and Paris as Olympic host cities in September when the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games rights should be awarded at the same time.

International Olympic Committee members voted unanimously Tuesday to seek a consensus three-way deal between the two bid cities and the IOC executive board. Talks will open with Paris widely seen as favorite for 2024.

If a deal falls through, only the 2024 hosting rights will be voted on when the IOC next meets Sept. 13 in Lima, Peru.

Agreement seemed assured by the reaction of the two mayors. Eric Garcetti of LA and Anne Hidalgo of Paris emerged on stage holding hands to acclaim the decision.

The mayors were joined by IOC President Thomas Bach who raised an arm of each in a shared gesture of triumph.

A deal to make both cities winners would fulfil a strategy Bach set in motion last December to help safeguard a stable future for the signature Olympic event.

“With Los Angeles and Paris, there are two fantastic cities from countries with a profound Olympic history,” Bach said earlier.

The IOC approved the expected double award after hearing both cities present their 2024 hosting plan at a conference center in the Olympic capital city Lausanne.

Both cities used 45 minutes of videos and speeches, including French President Emmanuel Macron promoting the Paris cause, in a closed-door session with International Olympic Committee members to explain how they would host the 2024 Olympics.

Earlier Tuesday, the mayors of Los Angeles and Paris said they could work toward a deal.

“We look forward to working together maybe not in competition but collaboration with Paris,” LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a news conference after his city’s bid officials opened the campaign event.

Garcetti and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo have long touted their good relations on other issues such as climate change.

“We are all at the disposition and by the side of the IOC which was right to ask itself this question,” Hidalgo said at the Paris news conference, citing her friendship with Garcetti as potentially a “key element” to reaching an agreement.

The dual award can give the IOC a decade of stability with two world-class cities touting financially secure bids. LA plans to use only existing venues with zero risk of white elephant venues. This follows years of overspending by Olympic hosts and political defeats to sink potential candidates.

The win-win option also guards against a 2024 loser refusing to bid again for 2028.

It also avoids inflicting a third recent defeat on Paris — which lost with bids for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics — and the United States. New York and Chicago both lost heavily for 2012 and 2016, respectively. Paris also failed with a 1992 bid.

“We lost three times, we don’t want to lose a fourth one,” Macron said at the news conference. “I’m here to convey the message that there’s a strong unity to back this candidacy.”

Minutes after Macron spoke, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: “Working hard to get the Olympics for the United States (L.A.). Stay tuned!”

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The International Olympic Committee plans on awarding the 2024 games to Paris and the 2028 games to Los Angeles. Both Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump have voiced their support.