Italian PM Renzi Announces Rome 2024 Olympic Bid

Italy announced Monday that Rome will be a candidate to host the 2024 Olympics, a decision that comes two years after the government scrapped plans to bid for the 2020 Games because of financial reasons.

Italy, which hosted the 1960 Olympics, planned to bid for the 2020 Games but the project was withdrawn after then-premier Mario Monti refused to provide financial backing at a time of economic crisis.

The new bid comes with Italy's economy still stagnant and amid a widening corruption scandal in the capital.

The Rome bid could also propose holding several events outside the capital, including sailing in Sardinia and preliminary basketball and volleyball rounds scattered in cities up and down the peninsula.

Italy is the second country to declare its intention to bid. Germany has already announced that it will submit a bid from either Berlin or Hamburg, with the choice to be made in March.

France is likely to approve a Paris bid next month, and the U.S. Olympic Committee will make a decision Tuesday on whether to bid. The potential U.S. candidate will be either Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Washington.

Other possible contenders include Doha, Qatar; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Baku, Azerbaijan; Istanbul, Turkey; Budapest, Hungary; and a city or province in South Africa.

The 2024 host will be chosen by the International Olympic Committee in 2017. The deadline for submission of bids to the IOC is September 2015.