体坛英语新闻：IOC Evaluation Commission arrives in Paris for a three-day inspection

PARIS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The 11-member International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission delegation arrived in Paris on Saturday to carry out a three-day inspection on the city's preparation for the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games bid.

The delegation, led by IOC Evaluation Commission chairman Patrick Baumann, arrived at Roissy Charles De Gaulle airport around 1:50 p.m. local time, and were welcomed by French Olympic Committee president Denis Masseglia, mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and Bernard Lapasset and Tony Estanguet, co-presidents of the Paris bid committee.

Baumann described the following three-day inspection work in the French capital "intense", which they also looked forward to.

"We want to have a direct image of what the city of Paris and the bid committee propose," he said.

IOC Evaluation Commission is scheduled to have a meeting with the Paris bid on Sunday, then go to some proposed venues or iconic backdrops for the 2024 Games, including the Eiffel Tower, Roland Garros and the Stade de France, next Monday.

"We are ready to share with them everything that Paris has to offer," said Estanguet, also a three-time Olympic champion.

"We look forward to showcasing Paris, an Olympic city that lives and breathes sport, to the IOC over the coming days," he added.

Emmanuel Macron, to be inaugurated as French president on Sunday, will have a meeting with the delegation during the latter's stay in Paris, while no clear time has been confirmed yet.

Macron voiced his absolute support for the city's bid to 2024 Olympic Games in a phone talk with IOC president Thomas Bach on Thursday.

IOC Evaluation Commission delegation just finished a four-day visit to Los Angeles of the United States, the other remaining candidate city for the biggest quadrennial sporting event in the world.

The host city will be released at the IOC's session in Lima, Peru on September 13.

Also taking the 2028 Games into consideration, IOC has put out a plan to award each of the two Games to two cities respectively in an effort to avoid one of them as a loser, but neither of the two cities has clarified their interest in the 2028 Games.