COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The leader of the US Olympic Committee said in a speech Thursday that the organization made a “bad call” when choosing Boston to bid for the 2024 Olympics.
Scott Blackmun gave his most candid public comments yet about the ups and downs of the bid process at the annual gathering of the US Olympic Assembly.
“The question is, should we have taken the risk? In hindsight, the answer is no,” Blackmun said, according to a transcript of his prepared remarks delivered Thursday. “We made a bad call.”
Blackmun said Boston was appealing as a bid city because of university sport facilities, a network of international influencers educated in Boston, and because “it is a hub of technology, innovation and medicine.”
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But despite having many attractive features, “the Boston bid failed because, from the beginning, it was not a bid supported by the people of Boston,” he said.
The CEO said he wants to focus on the second chance Los Angeles has given the USOC.
But Blackmun also said he owed an explanation to the hundreds of people at the assembly for the Boston debacle. He took blame for not recognizing all the city’s shortcomings soon enough.
“I don’t want to dwell on the negatives of Boston, and I will not offer any excuses for what happened. But I do think you are entitled to an explanation,” he said.
Later, LA bid chairman Casey Wasserman said Los Angeles’ history as a two-time Olympic host sets it up for success.