The Paris Olympic bid chief said on Tuesday he was not against the awarding of the 2024 and 2028 Olympics in the same session later this year, but ruled the French capital out of the latter Games. "It is now or never. We will not come back for 2028," three-times Olympic canoeing champion Tony Estanguet told Reuters. Paris is up against Los Angeles for the right to stage the 2024 sports extravaganza. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has hinted he would not be against awarding those Games and the 2028 Games at the same time, and said last week the IOC Executive Board had agreed to set up a working group to explore potential changes to the process and report back in July. The 2024 host city will be awarded at a vote in Lima, Peru, in September. Officials from both bid cities have said they are focused on the 2024 edition and are not looking beyond that. Estanguet strengthened the French stance on Tuesday. "If the IOC can find a solution with LA, that's great," he said. "Our project is only possible for 2024. We can't accept 2028. It is not possible." Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti too has insisted that the city remains solely focused on staging the Olympics in 2024 amid speculation of a deal which could see rival bid Paris handed the Games. Under one scenario, Paris could be chosen as hosts for the 2024 Olympics — 100 years after last staging the Games — with Los Angeles handed the right to host the extravaganza four years later. LA 2024 officials have consistently played down speculation surrounding a possible joint award, maintaining that the focus remained on a 2024 bid. And Garcetti, one of the leaders of the Los Angeles bid, reiterated that position in an interview with the insidethegames.biz sports news website. "We are competing for 2024. Full stop," insidethegames quoted him as saying on Monday. "I would love to visit my friends in Paris in 2028. We have never contemplated anything else." Garcetti said the IOC had briefed LA 2024 officials on the ruling to investigate a joint award following its executive board meeting in Pyeongchang last week. "They have kept us abreast of the conversations they are having, which is appropriate," Garcetti said, adding that he was sympathetic to the views of IOC chief Bach, who is concerned the bidding process creates "too many losers." "I support those kind of conversations," Garcetti said. "There are too many cities that lose, it costs way too much (to bid). "I support those kind of reforms but that is a bigger question for the future. We are focused on the present, which is a bid for 2024. We will play by the rules and the rules today say this is a competition for 2024." Soaring costs have made hosting the Olympics prohibitive, deterring cities from bidding for the four-yearly sporting spectacular. Budapest last month became the third city to pull out of the bidding for 2024, following public opposition sparked by fears over costs and corruption. Germany's Hamburg withdrew after a referendum in late 2015, and Rome canceled its bid last year, with its mayor Virginia Raggi calling it "irresponsible" for the city's finances. The IOC Vice President John Coates, meanwhile, has welcomed the decision of the club, which will host the golf tournaments at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to admit women as full members. The private Kasumigaseki Country Club took the decision to change its bylaws at an extraordinary board meeting on Monday after being told last month that the IOC would find another venue if the policy remained unaltered. "As we have said all along, gender equality is a fundamental principle of the Olympic Movement and an important part of Olympic Agenda 2020, and we believe this decision now reflects this," Coates, the head of the IOC coordination commission which advises Tokyo Games organizers, said.
