French Olympic athletes honored; Paris 2024 bid in mind

PARIS (AP) French President Francois Hollande has called on his country's Olympic champions to stand up for Paris' bid to host the games in 2024.

Hollande hosted France's Olympic athletes, who returned from the Rio de Janeiro Games with a total of 42 medals, in a ceremony in the garden of the Elysee palace Tuesday.

The French capital is competing with Rome, Los Angeles and the Hungarian capital Budapest for the 2024 Olympics.

Tony Estanguet, co-chairman of the Paris 2024 bid committee, told reporters ''we are convinced that this country is able to organize the games, because it does have this Olympic culture and some great champions... so that's our next goal''.