San Francisco bids for 2024 Olympic games

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San Francisco is one of the top four finalists for the U.S. bid for the 2024 Olympic games. The U.S. Olympic Committee is set to make their decision as early as tomorrow.

2024 might seem monumentally far away, but the United States Olympic Committee is expected to announce their selected bid as early as tomorrow for the 2024 summer Olympic games.

San Francisco is one of four top cities of which the board of directors of the Olympic Committee is deliberating on. They are currently meeting in Denver, Colorado to make their final decision between San Francisco and the three other finalists: Los Angeles, Boston and Washington D.C.

The San Francisco bid stirred up controversy among many. A coalition known as “San Francisco No 2024 Olympics,” which formed in December, sent a letter to the U.S. Olympic Committee addressing their fears about the billions of dollars that would go into the games. A variety of other unions and local activists around the Bay Area have been sharing similar concerns over how the money should be used to help solve prevalent social issues or local businesses.

Supporters of the games say that hosting an  Olympics in San Francisco would benefit the local economy by creating new infrastructure,  jobs, transportation facilities and would also give the Bay Area a lasting legacy.

Harker students share their own opinions on the games being held in San Francisco.

“It’s hard to think of something that’s going to happen so far from now, but it would be amazing to have the Olympics held in San Francisco,” Laya Indukuri (12) said. “It would just be really exciting for it to be here in our hometown.”

Alexis Gauba (10) agreed that hosting the Olympics would be beneficial to the community.

“I think that it could be a really unique experience for San Francisco to host the Olympics,” she said. “As the global center of technology, design, and innovation, the stadiums would be world class, as already displayed by the recently built Levi’s stadium, and it would be a great opportunity for companies in the area to showcase new technologies.”

The last time the United States hosted the Olympics was in Atlanta in 1996. The International bidding will begin in the coming fall, and the International Olympic Committee plans to pick the final winner in 2017.

Additional reporting done by Ria Gandhi (10).