Seven more venues unveiled by Boston 2024 ahead of key United States Olympic Committee meeting

Historic Harvard Stadium, best known as an American football venue, would showcase archery at Boston 2024 ©Wikipedia

Another raft of venue changes have been unveiled by Boston 2024 as they seek to boost support for their under fire Olympics and Paralympics bid just five days before a Quarterly Board Meeting of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

Under the latest changes, archery will be held at the historic Harvard Stadium, tennis at Harambee Park in the Dorchester neighbourhood, wrestling and judo at Boston College’s Conte Forum and weightlifting at the Matthews Arena.

Boxing, indoor volleyball and table tennis have been allocated to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, while handball would take place at Worcester’s DCU Center, and fencing and taekwondo at UMass Lowell’s Tsongas Center.

This follows announcements earlier this month that non-city centre venues would also be used for shooting, canoe slalom, sailing and beach volleyball.

Using these existing venue and resources has been presented as part of Boston's strategy to develop a "fiscally responsible, compact and environmentally sustainable" Games, it was claimed.

Boston 2024 chief executive Richard Davey claimed they were fortunate to be able to tap into these "well managed and easy-to-access facilities to showcase the best of our region".

Boston officials discussed plans with the likes of USOC chair Larry Probst in a lengthy meeting yesterday ©Getty Images

But critics of the bid remain sceptical of the latest plans, claiming the move of so many venues into parts of Massachusetts state outside the city centre is an attempt to pander to statewide public support, believed to be slightly higher than in the city itself.

Opposition group No Boston Olympics also claimed Boston 2024's "imprudent plan still calls for building the three most expensive Olympic venues from scratch."

Bid officials met with senior members of the USOC, including chairman Larry Probst, to go over the plans yesterday, with discussion thought to have focused around the two most ambitious projects associated with the bid: a temporary Olympic stadium at Widett Circle and an Athletes' Village at the University of Massachusetts.

The USOC officials claim they are encouraged by the changes to the bid, but still want to see public support increase among Boston residents.

Further discussions over the bid will take place during the Quarterly USOC Board of Directors meeting in Redwood City on Tuesday (June 30), the same day as the promised deadline for Boston 2024 to have revealed their whole venue concept.

“I would vote yes on that, absolutely,” the official said.

“That’s totally in line with where we are, and in particular, we support the public having a chance to vote.”

However, when asked about a similar proposal concerning city funds, Davey was less unequivocal, saying that it is "unclear" what exactly the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would want Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to sign as part of a financial guarantee.