Rome's new mayor, Virginia Raggi, has decided to withdraw the city's backing for a bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Italian capital. The decision effectively sinks Rome's bid and narrows the field of Olympics bidders to Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest.
Raggi's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which won control of Rome in June, had always expressed doubts about staging the sporting spectacular, saying the heavily indebted city could ill afford to finance the investment needed. During the election campaign, Raggi said the city had other priorities but did not definitively back away from the bid. In one election debate, she said she would call a popular referendum on whether to continue with the bid.
