Rome 2024 meet with IPC to demonstrate commitment to Paralympics

Rome 2024 vice-president Luca Pancalli has met with officials from the IPC in Bonn ©Roma commune

Meetings have taken place between Rome 2024 and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the Italian city seeks to demonstrate the importance of both Games it is bidding for, while they have also claimed the event will bring similar legacy benefits to those seen at London 2012.

The Italian capital will be forever linked to the Paralympic Movement, bid officials claim, because the 1960 Games marked the first time both the Olympics and Paralympics were held together.

Rome 2024 vice-president Luca Pancalli, also head of the Italian National Paralympic Committee, met with IPC chief executive Xavier Gonzalez and integration director Thanos Kostopoulos at the body's headquarters in Bonn, with an aim of "continuing to embrace the values of inclusion and participation represented by the Paralympics and bring them to the fore in activities planned to promote the Italian bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2024".

This includes the incorporation of Paralympic athletes in initiatives aimed at creating a "real legacy" during the bid, with training sessions organised in schools to deepen understanding of its values to young people.

Rome is one of five cities to have confirmed its bid for 2024 last month, along with Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles and Paris, with the next major step in the two year candidature process coming at next week's Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly in Washington D.C.

Bid officials have have been working hard to publicise the bid within recent weeks, with director of international relations Simone Perillo having attended last week's Smart Cities and Sport Summit in Lausanne.

Luca di Montezemolo has been explaining the merits of the bid to local students ©Getty Images

Focus, however, has been particularly high within Italy, with bid leader Luca di Montezemolo having this week reiterated his plans to a group of students from the University of Tor Vergata, the proposed location for the Athletes' Village during the Games.

Thousands of new apartments and rooms will be created by the plans, with officials aiming for a similar sort of legacy benefit as that seen in the district of Stratford, site of the London 2012 Olympic Park.

More than 170,000 jobs would also be created by the plans, it is hoped.

"Our work starts with the people living in the city, the municipal areas, the neighborhoods and your world, the university," the former Ferrari President told a group of 700 students.

"We want to win and contribute to the city's improvement."

Basketball, volleyball and track cycling competitions would also be held close by, with new public transport links to be considered.

Tor Vergata is located in the east of the city, the other side from the proposed athletics and swimming venues at Foro Italico.

It currently requires a journey of around one hour by car, but it is hoped will be narrowed to half that by the time of the Games.

A host for 2024 is due to be chosen by the International Olympic Committee at the 2017 IOC Session in Lima.