Wednesday, June 26, 2019
"It's important for us in our concept to put sports out of the stadiums and in the heart of the city,'' said Tony Estanguet, the Paris 2024 president.
Estanguet said the search for a venue will start Wednesday now that his fellow IOC members have added their approval.
Breaking will likely also be attractive to 2028 Los Angeles Olympics organizers. The sports program for L.A. should be agreed on in 2021, IOC sports director Kit McConnell said.
Surfing will spread the Paris Olympics out of the capital, potentially to the southwest French city of Biarritz, with sailing races already set for Marseille.
"Paris 2024 will choose a venue offering natural waves, as France boasts a number of well-known surfing spots on its Atlantic coast and in its overseas territories,'' the organizing committee said in a statement.
French Polynesia, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean could all be proposed, International Surfing Association president Fernando Aguerre noted.
"There's a lot of options. A lot of them seem to be very, very positive,'' Aguerre said, adding that a decision was expected later this year.
All four sports must still prove themselves to Olympic observers and could yet be removed from the Paris program ahead of final approval by the IOC board.
It is too late to add a replacement should any fall short, Estanguet said.
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