The United States Olympic Committee has picked Boston, over two California cities to represent the U.S. Olympic bid for the 2024 Summer Games.
The USOC decided Boston would give it the best chance to bring the Olympics back to the states for the first time since the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
Helen Mendel of Palo Alto is on the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee. She says she is devastated by the decision.
"We did the 2012 Olympic bid for the San Francisco Bay Area and we won the silver medal. New York was our candidate from the U.S. and we lost to London. 2016 we had to withdraw our bid because the 49ers decided to move their stadium and take it away to Santa Clara. This was probably our best shot."
Sacramento had been in talks with Bay Area organizers to supply hotel rooms, training facilities and possibly venues for the games. Mike Sophia is Director of the Sacramento Sports Commission.
"We're going to get behind the U.S. bid for the Olympic Games," says Sophia. "It would be a great asset to have the games back in the United States in 2024. Disappointed that it's not northern California. But, it's still a great opportunity. And, we would still continue to pursue international sports the way we would either way."
Sophia says right now, Sacramento is still only in a position to help host a major event like the Olympics.
"I don't think Sacramento has the capacity to host an Olympic Games. I think San Francisco has a great...the Bay Area would be a great place, northern California. You just have to have that volume of hotel rooms and convention center space and everything else. We're simply not of the size to be able to accommodate that scope of event."
No Sacramento venues were included in San Francisco's bid, but Sophia says the originial Atlanta venue list didn't include many of the sites that ended up holding events.
Sacramento will host an Amgen Tour stage this year and the U.S.A Track and Field Junior National Olympics next year.
The Sports Commission has not finalized an agreement to bring the U.S.A. Track and Field Championships back to Sacramento in 2017.
Los Angeles and Washington D.C. were the other two cities under consideration for the 2024 games by the U-S-O-C.
The International Olympic Committee is expected to decide in two years where the 2024 games will be held.
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