Rome mayor to withdraw backing for 2024 Olympic bid
Rome’s mayor Virginia Raggi will withdraw the city’s backing for a bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games in the Italian capital, a city hall official said on Wednesday.
Raggi’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which took control of Rome in June, had always expressed doubts about staging the sporting spectacular, saying the heavily indebted city could ill afford the investment needed.
Raggi is due to hold a news conference later on Wednesday.
It could mark Rome’s second withdrawal in four years after then-premier Mario Monti stopped the city’s plans to bid for the 2020 Games in 2012 because of financial conditions.
If Rome withdraws, only Los Angeles, Paris and Budapest, Hungary, would remain in the running for the 2024 Summer Games.
The IOC will decide the host in September, 2017.