The announcement, made during the International Olympic Committee meetings in Lima, Peru, was largely anti-climactic since the two Games bids had in effect been settled over the summer.
Cities such as Boston, Hamburg, Budapest and Rome, facing taxpayer anger, opted out of the bidding process. There were no other choices and the IOC thought it best to lock in two solid and sound sites while it could.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good route for the movement,鈥� said Lawless, a Victoria lawyer.
鈥淭here have been some turbulent times [in terms of bidding cities dropping out], and it鈥檚 nice to have some certainty. This is a movement that could use some stability. The movement has had some challenges and we don鈥檛 need to add to them.鈥�
Lawless also said that know-how will not be an issue for either France or the United States and that 鈥渃ompetence鈥� should be a hallmark of both the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games.
Lawless acknowledged all the cities that have opted out of recent Games bidding.
鈥淚t speaks to the need to engage frankly with communities beforehand and making a strong business and legacy case for the Games,鈥� he said.
鈥淚f that case can鈥檛 be made, then that bid should not go forward.鈥�
Lawless was appointed COC vice-president in 2015 and has coached athletes to Paralympics medals, including Michelle Stilwell. Lawless has twice won the Petro sa国际传媒 Coaching Excellence Award in more than 20 years of coaching high-performance athletes in sailing, track and cycling. His athletes have broken 18 world records in athletics and won 15 Paralympic or world championship medals. Lawless has also appeared as counsel before the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, as chief arbitrator in several cases, and has lectured at Camosun College on sports law.
With nine Canadian national training centres centralized in Greater Victoria, numerous athletes training here will eventually be competing at Paris 2024 and L.A. 2028.
鈥淭hey now have a target and know where they want to go,鈥� said Lawless.
