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Budapest declares intent to host 2024 Olympics

Xinhua, July 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Budapest has sent an official letter of intent to bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics to Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a copy of which was made public on Budapest's official website on Wednesday.

The move comes after Hungary's parliament voted on Monday to support the bid. The letter of intent was signed by Zsolt Borkai, president of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) and by Budapest mayor Istvan Tarlos, and emphasizes the agreement of all Hungarian actors to submit the bid.

The letter points to the IOC's Agenda 2020 program which is intended to make it possible for smaller countries to host the world's biggest sporting event.

Hungary is a founding member of the IOC and is in eighth place globally in the number of Olympic medals won. It is the only one of the two 10 medal-winning countries never to have hosted an Olympics, the letter noted.

Bids to host the 2024 games have to be submitted by September 15, 2015. The IOC will declare the winner in September 2017.

So far Boston, Hamburg, Paris, and Rome have officially declared their intention to submit bids. Endi