Paris mayor gives blessing to 2024 Olympic Games bid

Paris mayor Anna Hidalgo turned to back the capital city's potential bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games on Monday.

The female mayor has also asked local city officials to get to work on shaping a detailed plan, "to fully engage with Paris in a bid for the 2024 Games".

Having initially asked for more time to study the possibility after President Francois Hollande publicly expressed his support to the idea last November, Hidalgo said in front of the boards of each district of the capital that she'd been convinced.

"These very useful exchanges confirmed it makes sense for Paris to bid for this unique sporting event," she said, referring to a report produced by French sports officials on the advantages of Paris bidding for 2024.

A feasibility study on holding the Games in Paris put the potential cost at 6.2 billion euros, while backers say construction costs would be limited since the city already has top-quality facilities such as the Roland Garros tennis center and the Stade de France.

It was in Hidalgo's hands, however, whether Paris to bid for the Olympic Games just one year ahead of the World Expo 2025, as the city council will vote on it in April.

The International Olympic Committee sets the deadline for candidate cities to submit their bids in September, and the final decision is to be made following an IOC meeting due in 2017.

Boston and Rome have announced their candidacies for the 2024 Games and Hamburg was named as Germany's bidding city at the weekend.H Paris has not host the grand sports event since 1924 and the earlier edition held in this city was in 1900 when Olympic Games came as part of the World Expo.

The City of Light has lost the bids in all previous three times, 1992 to Barcelona, 2008 to Beijing and 2012 to London. Endi