Mayor Eric Garcetti travels to Switzerland with delegation boosting L.A.’s Olympics bid

A contingent representing Los Angeles’ bid for the 2024 Olympics met with International Olympic Committee executives in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday.

Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA24 bid committee Chairman Casey Wasserman, who have spearheaded the effort through its earliest days, spoke with IOC President Thomas Bach and several of his top assistants during the one-hour visit.

“Any campaign is about relationships,” Garcetti said afterward. “We wanted to reestablish Los Angeles’ strong relationship with the Olympic movement and that’s best done face-to-face.”

The mayor and Wasserman were accompanied by U.S. Olympic Committee leaders, including Chief Executive Scott Blackmun and Chairman Larry Probst.

The morning discussions at IOC headquarters were general in nature, with Olympic executives offering “some words of advice but no specific details,” Probst said.

Just 36 hours earlier, Los Angeles had been formally announced as the U.S. candidate for the 2024 Games at a news conference on Santa Monica State Beach.

Garcetti said he expected Hollywood celebrities to lend some star power to the bid and that Magic Johnson was slated to participate in some form.

The American contingent was scheduled to return on Friday.