Budapest withdraw from race to host 2024 Olympic Games

Budapest's assembly has formally passed a motion to withdraw from the race to host the 2024 Olympic Games, leaving Los Angeles and Paris as the only competitors.

The International Olympic Committee will make a decision on the 2024 host city in September of this year.

Budapest's city council said the withdrawal had come after a new political movement in Hungary collected more than 250,000 signatures to force a referendum on the hosting issue.

Budapest had been considered a long-shot candidate, pinning its hopes on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Agenda 2020 initiative.

That would have seen costs for bidding to host the Games decreased and shape the legacy issues that have plagued some recent events, allowing cities to present a project that "best matches their sports, economic, social and environmental long-term planning needs."