France's olympic aspirations

During a television interview on 6 November 2014, the French President, François Hollande, said that he was in favour of Paris submitting a bid to host the Olympic Games in 2024.
Everyone who supports the project and recognizes its importance for France welcomed his statement. However, gathering support and submitting a bid are not the same thing. For a bid to be convincing and credible, it must be endorsed and underwritten by three parties: the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF), the mayor of Paris and the French government. Furthermore, the bidding process must obey a precise timetable - the International Olympic Committee has to receive the bid by September 2015 at the latest and will select the host city in the summer of 2017.
Armand de Rendinger, an international expert and a keen observer of all matters Olympic, has written a new book "La tentation olympique française, Les secrets d'une décision' which was published by Editions France-Empire on 16 October 2014. The book's release was extremely timely and it has been well received both in France and abroad. De Rendinger introduces us to the impenetrable and complex world of the Olympic decision-makers. More importantly he addresses all the issues that have been - and still are - the subject of lively debate in France. He asks whether France has learned the lessons from five failed bids to host the Olympic Games over the past 30 years. Does it have the capacity and the resources to land the 2024 Games in the face of such intense competition? And, finally, given present circumstances, can the French population be persuaded to give the project its full support even though there is no guarantee of success?
The USA (Boston), Italy (Rome) and Germany (Berlin or Hamburg) have already thrown their hats into the ring and are declared candidates for the 2024 Games. France is still hesitating and keeps putting off a decision. The sports world is in favour, but French politicians divided. The findings of the feasibility study on bringing back the Games to the French capital were presented on 12 February 2015. Even though its conclusions are moot, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced that she will only make a final decision in April or May of this year.
At a time when France is still very hesitant about whether to bid, Armand de Rendinger's new book reminds us that the competition and the whole of the international Olympic movement is watching and weighing France's every move. The book has been translated into English by Katia and Peter Sand and is published under the title: France's Olympic Aspirations, Reality or Pipe Dream ?