President Obama on Thursday congratulated Boston as the U.S. bid city to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
Boston edged out competing proposals from San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and two-time Olympic host Los Angeles, and will look to secure the first U.S. summer games since Atlanta in 1996.
{mosads}“The city has taught all of us what it means to be Boston Strong,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. “The President and First Lady couldn’t be prouder of this accomplishment and of all of our nation’s athletes, and strongly support the effort to bring the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to the United States. We hope to welcome athletes from around the globe to compete in Boston in 2024.”
Boston has two years to prepare a proposal that will be presented to the International Olympic Committee in Lima, Peru.
In 2009, Michelle Obama traveled to Copenhagen to pitch the first family’s hometown of Chicago as a host for the 2016 Olympics. Despite an impassioned speech by the first lady, the IOC awarded the games to Rio de Janeiro.
The president at the time said despite falling short, he was glad the first lady had made the pitch, and that it was “always a worthwhile endeavor to promote and boost the United States.”
“One of the things that I think is most valuable about sports is that you can play a great game and still not win,” the president said. “Although I wish that we had come back with better news from Copenhagen, I could not be prouder of my hometown of Chicago.”