In those days, there was no concept of a preferred bidder, but the "City of the Angels" was chosen without any opposition for 1932.

Brisbane was selected for the Games to be held a century later in 2032 in similar unopposed fashion.

In 1923, the IOC Session which made the decision was held in Rome.

Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini had come to power only a few months before, but proceedings were officially opened by the Italian King, Victor Emmanuel III.

The Ceremony took place in the Great Central Hall of the Capitol which had been "sumptuously decorated", for the occasion.

The Los Angeles proposal was presented by William May Garland who had become an IOC member the previous year.

"In extending the invitation to the Committee to come to Los Angeles, I extend it on behalf of the whole United States," Garland declared.

"The welcome of the entire country is contained in this invitation and we promise you the greatest hospitality witnessed at any Olympics."

Immediately after the First World War, the city of Los Angeles made it very clear that they were keen to host the Olympics.

It was an enthusiasm shared by IOC President Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

Apart from the 1904 Games in St Louis, every Olympiad of the modern era had been held in Europe.

"I was determined, obdurate as I was, to commit the future even beyond the present horizons," Coubertin explained in his memoirs.

It would be the last time that he had such an active part in the selection of a host city.

In 1920, the city of Los Angeles had sent Garland to the IOC Session in Antwerp with the 1924 Games in mind.

Although American Olympic Committee (AOC) President Gustavus Kirby and secretary Frederick Rubien repeated the offer in 1921, Coubertin had already decided on what he described as his "Lausanne manoeuvre".

He persuaded his colleagues to vote Paris as hosts in 1924 and Amsterdam for 1928. 

It was a scenario repeated a century later when Paris and Los Angeles were installed as the host cities for 2024 and 2028.

In 1923, as delegates gathered in Rome, IOC member Charles Sherrill brought a message from the United States President Warren Harding.

There was also a groundswell that it would be a good idea for one in three Olympic celebrations to be held in what was then still quaintly described as the "New World."

The Count Gautier Vignal asked that Los Angeles be accepted, an idea accepted by his fellow Frenchman Comte Justinien de Clary and Baillet Latour asked for a secret ballot on the matter.

Gautier Vignal insisted that this would not be necessary and called for "a vote of acclamation." 

The minutes recall how all the members immediately rose and acclaimed the United States.

The award was described by the Americans as "the final chapter of a vigorous campaign by the American athletic authorities, particularly those in California, to bring the international athletics meeting to our country."

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was shortly to open and this was described by Coubertin as "an invaluable pledge of success."

Construction had begun in 1921 and by the time of the 1923 IOC Session it was all but complete.

"The Coliseum is the most stupendous stadium ever erected," was the verdict of the Los Angeles Times.  

At one end there was a distinctive peristyle with arches above which the Olympic Flame was destined to burn in both 1932 and 1984.

The stadium had 60 entrances and exits and the playing area was large enough to accommodate two gridiron pitches.

It had a capacity of 90,000 and became a regular venue for American football. 

The University of Southern California (USC) Trojans defeated Pomona Sagehens 23-7 in the first big college match played there.

De Coubertin had considered it as one of "three powerful trumps" in favour of the city.

Another was the very fact that Los Angeles was on the other side of the world.

"From the point of view of political and social events, far removed from the trouble that I felt brewing," Coubertin reflected.

The decision would also indicate gratitude for the support shown to the Olympic Movement by Americans since the revival of the Modern Olympics at the Athens Games of 1896.

Garland "thanked his colleagues with emotion,"

In what was later described by Coubertin as a "tacit agreement," Garland had also been asked if Los Angeles would be able to step in as host city in the event that the 1924 Games proved impossible to stage in Paris.

In fact the precaution did not prove necessary.

The Games in 1932 proved successful even though they were held at the time of an economic crisis.

A group of citizens in Southern California craved their return at regular intervals and they were finally chosen, again unopposed, to host what proved to be highly successful Games in 1984.

Now the Coliseum is set to be used for an unprecedented third time in 2028.

Yet the first award to Los Angeles was not the only business discussed in Rome that week in April 1923.

There were progress reports from 1924 hosts Paris and organisers of the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

In a curious parallel to this year, the IOC members of a century ago were also asked about the participation of Russian competitors in this case, Russian emigres.

Many had fled after the Russian Revolution and Civil War which followed.

Prince Leon Ouroussof, an IOC member appointed in the days of the last tsar of Russia, told the Session that these now numbered three million and that they had formed "sports organisations that were active."

He asked that they be allowed to participate in the 1924 Games in Paris.

He was told the emigre Russians could not be recognised as they "did not belong to an autonomous state."

De Coubertin had also written of the "sporting penetration of Africa" and insisted this would be "the initial move of the final battle to be waged if we are to complete the sporting conquest of the world."

A group representing a number of African nations came to Rome to present their plans for spreading the Olympic Movement in the continent.

There was a recommendation for the use of film to help spread information about sport and the Olympic Movement.

They also outlined the plans for African Games, which were to be hosted by Algeria in 1925.

It later transpired that the Algerian authorities were not willing to fund them.

They were re-assigned to the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 1927 but these did not take place either.

Much of the continent was still governed by the colonial powers who were thought not to have been keen on promoting national identity.

It was to be 40 years before the first African Games did take place.

In the meantime, athletes from Africa were to take part in the Olympics but representing the colonial powers.

Similarly, the Philippines were to compete in the Games for the first time, but under the flag of the United States.

Ireland now had an IOC member in John Keane.

He attended the Session in Rome where it was agreed that Ireland would compete in its own right at Paris 1924.

The IOC also granted patronage to another event to be staged earlier in 1924.

A "Winter Sports Week" was planned for the French resort of Chamonix.

It was later redesignated as the first Winter Olympic Games.

The question of German re-admission to the Games was deferred and German athletes did not ultimately return until 1928.

Although Alice Milliat had promoted Women's Olympiads and other events in France in the preceding two years, the question of women’s sport was, in the words of the IOC Centenary History, "rapidly dismissed."

The IOC probably spent more time examining the new design for Olympic medals and discussing the format of arts competitions in 1924.

Before the members left Rome, they were also received at the Vatican by the Pope.