Boston Olympic Bid Names Harvard Venues as Hosts for 10 Events

Harvard could host up to 10 events in the 2024 Olympic Games if the International Olympic Committee selects Boston as the host city, according to Boston 2024 Olympic and Paralympic bid documents released Wednesday.

The documents include plans for Harvard venues to host aquatics, fencing, field hockey, tennis, and water polo for the Olympic Games, as well as five-a-side and seven-a-side football, swimming, wheelchair fencing, and wheelchair tennis for the Paralympic Games.

Field hockey would take place in Harvard Stadium, and fencing events in the existing Albert H. Gordon Track and Tennis Center, although both venues, if chosen, would see overlays built to accommodate Olympic competition.

By Mark Kelsey

Aquatics, swimming, and tennis would take place in venues that are slated be built in the first half of 2024, prior to the beginning of the summer Olympics and Paralympics.

In addition to Harvard, MIT, UMass Boston, and Boston University have offered their facilities for use during the games.

The Bid Committee has established partnerships with each university, according to its proposals. Katie N. Lapp, University executive vice president, serves on the committee’s College and University Engagement subcommittee along with administrators from area colleges. Lapp could not be reached for comment.

Bid documents emphasize the “university cluster” that Boston 2024 would feature, and the ease of travel between Harvard, MIT, and other university venues along the Charles River.

These university venues would complement venues in the “waterfront cluster,”  including the planned temporary Olympic Stadium, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, and Boston Harbor.

If Boston’s bid is selected, the Games would be held from July 19 to Aug. 4, 2024, and the Paralympics from Aug. 14 to Aug. 25.

Boston was selected by the United States Olympic Committee as the U.S.’s official bid for the 2024 games earlier this month, but the IOC will not make its final selection until 2017.

—Check TheCrimson.com for updates.

—Staff writer Nathan P. Press can be reached at nathan.press@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer  Samuel E. Stone can be reached at samuelstone@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @Samuel_E_Stone.