French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) President Denis Masseglia made the disclosure, as the French sports establishment used an event in the French capital to stage an impressive show of unity behind the idea of a Paris Olympic and Paralympic bid.

An audience numbered in hundreds at the Maison du Sport Français, near the university zone in the south of the city, listened intently as Bernard Lapasset, President of the French International Sport Committee (CFSI), and a succession of other speakers outlined some of the findings of the feasibility study launched last May into whether or not Paris should bid for the 2024 Games.

Bernard Lapasset, President of the French International Sport Committee, led the senior group of top sports officials backing a bid from Paris for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics ©CNOSF

It was towards the end of this detailed two-and-a-quarter hour presentation that Masseglia revealed the idea for a television fundraiser, giving French viewers an opportunity to pledge sums as small €5 (£4/$6) or €10 (£8/$12.50) to the expected €50 million (£39 million/$63 million) - €80 million  (£63 million/ $100 million) cost of a bid, but also to make explicit their support even if not accompanied by a donation.

A June broadcast would almost certainly pre-date a final decision on whether France, disappointed so often in the past, would actually enter a race that is expected to feature a strong United States candidate.

But Masseglia told insidethegames that if the fundraiser was a success, he did not think the Government would say No.

Lapasset explained that the CFSI would await the key International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Monaco in December, at which important changes to the bidding process are expected to be agreed, before putting the finishing touches to the feasibility study.

Interim Government support for a plan, and for a phase of support-building among the general public, is then expected to be sought in January; if applicable, final approval would then be considered in July.

Afterwards, Lapasset was at pains to emphasise that the French Government's recent backing for a bid to host Expo 2025 did not spell the end of the country's 2024 Olympic ambitions.

It was, he said, "totally possible" to do both.

Paris must decide whether to launch another bid for the Olympics despite losing its campaigns for 1992, 2008 and 2012 ©CNOSF

Among the most imaginative ideas to have surfaced so far from the 14 working groups mobilised to contribute to the feasibility study are a "Tour de France" of Olympic champions that would travel around the country giving people a chance to get up close and personal with their heroes, and an "Olympic school" project that would aim to help kids whose formal education had left them particularly ill-equipped to play a meaningful role in society.

It has to be said that the impact of today's event was diluted somewhat by an absence of Government ministers.

However, Daniel Ziebinski, chief of staff to Patrick Kanner, Minister of Urban Affairs, Youth and Sport, was on hand to read a two-page message from his boss, who is on a visit to Canada with French President François Hollande.

"France has not abandoned its Olympic ambition," the message read.

"The most indispensable thing for me will be to gather together the French people, to attract the unfailing support of our fellow citizens."

Paris bid unsuccessfully for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Games, awarded to Barcelona, Beijing and London respectively.

This must make it very difficult for the political elite to stomach the possibility of yet another defeat.

French IOC member and Olympic gold medallist Guy Drut has that in the bid for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics there is only one winner ©CNOSF

Given this context, it was French IOC member Guy Drut who perhaps got closest to the heart of the matter when he said, in reference to the 2024 race, that while there was "only one place on this podium...nothing is decided - for anyone".

French sports leaders will, you feel, have to do a convincing job of persuading their fellow citizens - from top politicians and civic leaders to the sort of individuals who might chip in to Masseglia's TV appeal - that the 2024 contest is no foregone conclusion if Paris 2024 is to get off the ground.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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