The announcement today comes following a Quarterly Board meeting of the USOC on Tuesday (June 10) where the decision was made to cut Dallas and San Diego from the shortlist of six potential hosts.

USOC chairman Larry Probst said on Tuesday that an announcement would not be made until the Board's decision had been communicated to each of the bidding cities.

Following today's announcement that Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C. have been chosen to go ahead in the next step of the process, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Probst said: "We would like to express our gratitude to the cities of Dallas and San Diego, which will not be moving forward in the bid process.

"Dallas had a great bid and matching leadership, along with a well-established sporting community.

"We have no doubt about the ability of Dallas to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and look forward to working with them in the future to enhance the international awareness of the city.

"Also, we very much appreciate the high-quality proposal from San Diego, a city that truly embraces sport and has a long history of supporting Team USA.

"Both of these world-class cities are committed to working with the USOC to enhance the Olympic Movement in the United States."

Last month New York and Philadelphia pulled out of mounting any potential bid for the 2024 Summer Games, which would be the first to held in the United States since Atlanta in 1996.

Of the four cities still being considered, Los Angeles is the only one with previous experience of hosting the Games, in 1932 and 1984.

New York City launched an unsuccessful bid for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, eventually awarded to London, while a bid launched by Chicago for the next edition in 2016 also failed as Rio de Janeiro won the contest.

No US city bid for the 2020 Games which went to Tokyo following the IOC Session in Buenos Aires last year.

Boston has been shortlisted by USOC as a potential bidder for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games ©Getty Images



The USOC will spend the next six to eight months examining the credentials of each of the four cities before deciding whether to press ahead with any of the four candidates and launch a full-blown bid.

Any bid from the United States will likely be up against bids from the likes of Rome, Paris and Istanbul who are all mooted to be considering entering the race.

"We're extremely pleased with the level of interest US cities have shown in hosting the Games," said USOC chief executive, Scott Blackmun.

"Boston, LA, San Francisco and Washington have each given us reason to believe they can deliver a compelling and successful bid, and we look forward to continuing to explore the possibilities as we consider 2024."

"It's going to be making sure that the cities have the land and the buildings and the wherewithal and the consensus to do what they said they can do," added Blackmun.

"It's a lot of land planning, it's a lot of discussion around the host city contract, around the terms of our joint venture with each city."

The iconic Golden Gate Bridge could provide a stunning backdrop to the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games should San Francisco be successful with its bid ©Getty Images



The USOC is trying to streamline the system for choosing a candidate with cities having previously spent up to $10 million (£6 million/€7 million) to win the right to bid.

A potential bid from the United States could depend on any changes to the bidding procedure that may occur as part of IOC President Thomas Bach's Agenda 2020 reform process.

Probst, who is also a member of the Association of National Olympic Committees Executive Council and the Pan American Sports Organisation Executive Committee, has admitted that he wants to see changes to the Olympic Games bidding process before deciding to formally launch a bid for the 2024 Games.

However, it is generally believed that a US bid is extremely likely and that has been reinforced by the recent signing of a huge broadcast deal between the IOC and NBCUniversal worth a reported $7.65 billion (£4.51 billion/€5.49 billion) covering the period from 2021 to 2032.

The IOC is set to name the host city for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2017.

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