Paris will host the Olympic Games in 2024 or 2028

The decision this week comes after Paris and Los Angeles both presented extremely strong proposals to host the 2024 or 2028 Games, and the other potential candidates - Rome and Budapest - pulled out of the running, almost certainly because of the rising cost of hosting such an event.

This meant that only two cities - Paris and Los Angeles - were possible for both years, and the Olympic Committee was reluctant to lose either city as an option.

“We have an opportunity here,” said Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, explaining the choice to confirm both candidates at once. “We have two excellent candidates from two huge Olympic nations.”

The decision as to whether Paris will host in 2024 or 2028 is set to be confirmed on 13 September this year, in Lima, Peru. Los Angeles will then host the other year.

So far, Paris has pushed harder for the 2024 Games - in a bid to align with the 100-year anniversary of the Paris 1924 Games - while Los Angeles, conversely, has explicitly stated that its proposals could work in either year.

The decision was also helped by Patrick Baumann, president of the evaluation committee at the IOC, who agreed that Los Angeles’ proposal showed an “excellent base for the Games”, and that Paris’ plans also formed an “exceptional and well-detailed project”.

Commenting on Paris’ win, President Emmanuel Macron said: “The values of Olympianism are our values. They are threatened, and being questioned by many today. This is the best time to defend our values of openness, tolerance, justice, and respect for the environment. This is everything that the Paris candidacy want to defend.”