After all, they have most certainly been here before. Political opposition to the Italian capital’s attempt at bringing the world’s grandest sporting event to the historic city is nothing new.

There was little love for the city's bid for the 2020 Games, which was abandoned on Valentine’s Day in 2012 by Mario Monti, then the Prime Minister, due to fears about finances during one of Italy’s worst economic crises. 

For their 2024 attempt, the dissenting voices are coming from much closer to home. Staunch anti-bid candidate Virginia Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer representing the Five Star Movement, was elected as Rome’s first-ever female Mayor last Sunday (June 19) and has made no secret of her concerns over launching another bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Her victory, widely expected as she came into the face-off with rival Roberto Giachetti as the clear favourite, sparked persistent claims among the media and among those who are following the race with a keen eye that her triumph could represent the end. Many feel their bid is done. Finished. Finito.

Such suggestions are understandable and, unfortunately for Rome 2024, unavoidable. Raggi had made a series of damning statements in the Mayoral campaign, including where she described pursuing the bid as “criminal” - a pull-no-punches statement which upset Italian National Olympic Committee President Giovanni Malagò.

Raggi was far from done, however. She also claimed the Bid Committee’s effort at securing the Olympic and Paralympic hosting rights at a time of economic instability and turmoil would be “mortgaging the future of the residents”.

She has repeatedly insisted there are much greater priorities for the city of Rome than the bid; Raggi seems more concerned about repairing streets and potholes than building a bridge that might lead to victory at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Lima in September 2017 - objectives which would have no doubt gone down well with the electorate.

Following her success last weekend, Raggi then dispelled the theory that her persistent, public opposition to Rome 2024 might have been purely a political tool to help elevate her to the Mayoral hotseat as she gave another critical interview, this time to Euronews.

"It's not really a priority for the people of Rome," Raggi said in her first interview as Mayor.

"They seem to me to be more like construction Olympics than sporting Olympics.

"The economic and historic data tells us all the cities that have hosted them have indebted themselves to the hilt."

"With debt of €13 billion (£10.5 billion/$14.4 billion), Rome can't afford to take on further debt to build more cathedrals in the desert.

"I am in favour of sport, but let's begin with city sporting facilities.

"Rome has over 160 of them and they are falling to pieces, and no one ever cared to maintain or renovate them.”

While there are stark contrasts between Rome 2024 and Rome 2020 - the current Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is a keen advocate of an Olympic and Paralympic bid while Monti, who has ironically pledged his allegiance to the current campaign, pulled the plug on the attempt eight years ago almost as soon as he took office - the similarities are much more striking.

As fears that Rome’s bid for 2024 will be axed because of Raggi’s win grow, the Bid Committee’s denials have grown louder, just as they did in 2012. Their latest statement was perhaps their most hopeful of all, declaring the Mayor is a “catalyst for a stronger bid” and her victory “can add an advantage to our bid”.

Even the likeable Diani Bianchedi, the two-time Olympic fencing champion who is serving as Rome 2024’s director general, admitted they would have preferred Giachetti to succeed in the Mayoral race. “It would have been easiest,” she told insidethegames earlier this month.

The words sent into the email inboxes of journalists all over the world by their communications team are surely a smokescreen for the genuine fear they feel deep down. The evidence at this present time only points one way.

Raggi has all the cards and all the power. She has the ability to kill the bid at the drop of a hat and Rome 2024 know it.

They will also look at the other contenders - Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris - with great envy as the Mayors of all three cities have thrown their considerable support behind their respective bids.

István Tarlós was originally sceptical about the Hungarian capital’s effort but has since changed his mind, while the impressive duo of Eric Garcetti and Anne Hidalgo have been leading the charge for Los Angeles 2024 and Paris 2024 respectively.

On the flipside, Raggi, for all her opposition and denigration of the bid to date, has not made the bold declaration that she will pull the plug. Of course, she has offered strong hints and inferred the possibility but until those exact words are spoken, Rome remains a contender, though their chances appear to evaporate further every time the new Mayor has a microphone or a platform to divulge her thoughts.

Despite the poor track record with a number of potential host cities over the years, Rome 2024 could yet be saved by a referendum, which may be the next step Raggi decides to take. The Italians notoriously excel in the field of political campaigning and if the arguments to pursue a bid are presented in the best possible way, a victory for the supporters of Rome 2024 is not out of the question.

It may not be their preferred option, as a public vote provides a leap into the unknown often fraught with difficulty, but it might be the only way to salvage Rome 2024 and ensure it lines up against the other three cities in the Peruvian capital next year.

They can also take some solace in the fact that the debate concerning the Mayor's stance has been one of the more interesting stories in the 2024 bid race. After all, if you believe the army of public relations executives who are an ever-present within the spectrum of the Olympic media, any news is good news.

Further talks are planned between Raggi and Rome 2024 in the near future as she settles in to her newly-acquired position of authority and that will provide us another marker of where the parties stand. Will they establish a united front once and for all and reaffirm their Olympic and Paralympic candidature? Or will such discussions spell the end of Rome 2024?

But, to coin a cliché taken from Italian opera, in reference to the stereotypically overweight sopranos, it isn’t over until the fat lady sings. Either way, the clear sense of déjà vu for the nation’s public remains ongoing and shows little sign of disappearing just yet.

It will only grow stronger should Raggi decide enough is enough.