DC 2024: Washington Wants to Host Summer Olympics

By Shaun Courtney and Karen Goff

Washington, D.C., wants to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games.

A nonprofit exploratory committee launched Tuesday morning, announcing DC's Olympic hopes and its plan to raise $3 million to $5 million in the next two years as it vies for the approval of the U.S. Olympic Committee, according to the Washington Business Journal.

The bid would be regional, with potential venues in Maryland, Virginia and the district.

"With more state-of-the-art sports infrastructure in a 40-mile radius than any other U.S. city, thousands of hotels and lodging options, and a vast and expanding transportation system, the Greater Washington region is one of the best and most qualified in the world to host an event of this magnitude...," DC 2024's President Bob Sweeney said in a statement Tuesday morning.

Other cities considering joining the mix are Atlanta, Boston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle, the Washington Business Journal reports. 

Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, a Republican who represents the Springfield area, said he is working in conjunction with other local groups on the 2024 exploratory committee.

Fairfax County is poised to play a significant role in the Olympics, with facilities like George Mason University, a plethora of lodging options, and an expanding and diversifying transportation network, Herrity said.

Also, the county will host the 2015 World Police and Fire Games, which would be a preview of how some of logistics would work.

“I am excited about the possibility of the region hosting the 2024 summer Olympics," Herrity said in a statement. "Fairfax will show the world what we can do when we host the World Police and Fire Games in 2015, an event that attracts as many athletes as the summer Olympics. A successful 2015 World Police and Fire Games will help demonstrate the region’s ability to host the 2024 Olympics.”

Washington, D.C., has never held the games before, and the last Summer Olympics in the United States was in Atlanta in 1996.

The U.S. Olympic Committee will select which American city will go into the running in 2015. Then that city will compete with other nations' top choices before the International Olympic Committee, which would pick the 2024 host city in 2017.

DC competed to be the U.S. Olympic Committee selection for the 2012 Olympics, which were ultimately held in London.