ITALY suspended Rome’s bid for the 2024 Olympics on Tuesday, forced to pull the plug because of the staunch opposition of the city’s mayor.

    Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago said that he had written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announcing the decision to “interrupt the candidacy.”

    While the letter left open a small possibility for a revival of the bid if there is a change in city government, Malago didn’t hold out much hope.

    “Today the game is over. But if someone decides that the game isn’t over it’s not up to us. But today we’re ending the game,” Malago said after his announcement at a news conference. “That’s it.”

    The move comes after Rome’s city council voted last month to withdraw support of the bid on the recommendation of Mayor Virginia Raggi.

    “The bid committee is officially liquidated as of today,” Malago said. “It’s a big wound for us. I hope they realize how bad an impression we’ve made.”

    The IOC said it had “taken note” of the Italian decision and “will further explore with the candidature committee what this means.”

    “All the circumstances and the information that we have received in the past days clearly demonstrate that this is about Italian politics only,” the IOC said.

    Rome’s withdrawal leaves only Los Angeles, Paris, and Budapest, Hungary, in the running for the 2024 Games. The IOC will select the host city in September 2017.

    It’s also the second time in four years that a Rome bid has been withdrawn or suspended. In 2012, then-premier Mario Monti scrapped the city’s bid for the 2020 Olympics because of financial concerns.

    “I feel like I’ve been robbed of hope,” Rome bid vice president and Italian Paralympic Committee president Luca Pancalli said.

    Hoping to regain the trust of the IOC, Malago said he was offering up Milan as host of the IOC session in 2019.

    Raggi, who represents the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, said that taking on the costs of an Olympic bid is “irresponsible” for a city struggling to emerge from years of corruption and poor public services.

    (SD-Agencies)