May 2009 Archives

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- If Olympic business is a who-you-know world of negotiations and secret handshakes, the recent makeover at the U.S. Olympic Committee couldn't have come at a more awkward time.

CEO Stephanie Streeter and another newcomer, chairman Larry Probst, are the new point people for an organization that has two critical missions over the next several months: Trying to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago and trying to do well at the Winter Olympics next February.

If they deliver, their move to the top will be considered a success. If they don't, fair or not, they're bound to get most of the blame from the multiple groups that didn't agree with the sudden rise of these relative unknowns. ESPN report

Tokyo will ask Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako to help its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, matching stars lined up by other candidate cities, the capital's governor said Thursday.

"It will be absolutely necessary to solicit kind help from the imperial family for the benefit of the Japanese people and for the history of Japan," said Shintaro Ishihara, who also heads Tokyo's Olympic bid committee. AFP report

The Tunisian Olympic swimming champion, Oussama Mellouli has accepted the city of Chicago's proposition to back its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

The 2016 Chicago committee is relying on the Tunisian Olympic champion to gather the support of the 22 African and Arab members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the games in America's third most populous city, Report from Tunisa online

A beverage trade organization is urging Gov. Pat Quinn to veto an alcohol tax increase currently awaiting his signature, suggesting that the tax hike could jeopardize Chicago's chance of hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. NBC Chicago report

Tokyo's top administrator has denied that North Korea's latest nuclear test will trigger regional instability and threaten the city's bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

"It's an issue of East Asian security," Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara told Reuters on Tuesday when asked about Pyongyang's test blast a day earlier. "But I don't think it's suddenly going to become a flashpoint." The Guardian reports

HAMMOND -- While it's likely no sporting events will be held in Northwest Indiana should Chicago get the 2016 Olympics, the opportunities for tourism, business and volunteering remain solid.

The closest the region may actually get to having part of the Games here would be if the soccer or football preliminaries are held in South Bend, said Mike Murnane, ethnic and regional affairs director for Chicago 2016, who came to the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority Wednesday to present an update on the movement's progress. Post-Tribune report

PARIS (AFP) -- A week after the International Olympic Committee's Evaluation Commission ended their trips round the four cities bidding to win the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games the perception is still that Chicago will have to trip over their laces if they are not to win it.

A source close to the IOC told AFP that "it is Chicago's to lose" after Morocco's 1984 Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion Nawal El Moutawakel and her fellow IOC Evaluation Commission members had left the last of the four cities Madrid.

"Chicago would have to mess up in a huge way at the moment for them not to win the race," the source said under condition of anonymity. "All they have to do is keep their nerve and play safe. Nothing fancy." AFP report

Construction could begin next spring on two city harbors that would expand the number of mooring spaces for recreational boaters by about 20 percent and bring in more tourism dollars, Chicago Park District officials say.

The Chicago Gateway Harbor project involves a reinforcement of dilapidated Dime Pier, located about 480 feet south of Navy Pier and 400 feet north of Chicago Harbor Lock, and creation of nightly as well as hourly boating slips. The harbor could open in 2011, parks officials say.

"Gateway will be the only Park District harbor intended primarily for visiting boaters," said Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner. A lack of such docking opportunities "represents a loss in revenue and related economic impact potential," according to the Chicago Lakefront Harbor Framework Plan. Chicago Tribune report

The Lincoln Park Advisory Council stalled a resolution opposing the proposed location of a $31 million Olympic tennis complex in Lincoln Park Wednesday evening after the local alderman said the door was open for a site change.
 
The Chicago 2016 Olympic bid committee is willing to consider two alternative Lincoln Park sites, both of them north of the current site at the Waveland courts, Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) said at a fractious meeting of the advisory council.
The two other locations, both existing parking lots, "would have minimal impact on traffic, other park activities, the surrounding communities and green space," said Shiller, who favors the Olympics but opposes use of the Waveland court site.
 
She said she would push for a change if Chicago is selected as the host city on Oct. 2. Chicago Tribune's Kathy Bergen reports

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said Monday the special ethics waiver she recently received from the White House to lead the federal government's effort to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago was needed only out of an abundance of caution in trying to be transparent. Chicago Tribune report

The Obama White House is playing an unprecedented role in the bid to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago, with top adviser Valerie Jarrett spearheading an effort that draws on the international symbolism of his presidency. Politico report

Between now and the election in Copenhagen, finalists have just one more major opportunity to present themselves to the voters: a June 17-18 briefing in Switzerland. All 107 eligible IOC members have been invited; at least 50 are expected to attend. Philip Hersh's blog from the Chicago Tribune

Kyodo News
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's waterworks bureau has set aside ¥1.87 billion in advertising expenses for its fiscal 2009 budget, part of which will go on publicizing the capital's campaign to host the 2016 Olympics, metro sources said Thursday.

The amount is double the bureau's fiscal 2008 budget and represents a threefold increase from its fiscal 2006 budget.

Soji Higashioka, head of the waterworks bureau, denied the ad budget was hiked to finance the publicity costs for vying for the summer Olympics against Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.

"It's meant to improve the image of Tokyo's tap water," Higashioka claimed. "We have only decided to also use the ad expenses for Tokyo's Olympic campaign incidentally."for the Olympic bid, which is Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's pet project. Full report

MADRID -- Separatist militants would not pose a threat to the 2016 Olympics if Madrid wins the bid for the games, Spain's Interior Minister said Friday.

Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told the 13-member IOC evaluation team -- which is wrapping up a five-day visit to the capital -- that security forces had considerable experience in protecting international sporting events in Spain.

"We won't need to worry about (Basque separatist group) ETA in 2016," Rubalcaba said.

full report

MADRID (AP) -Buoyed by strong public support numbers, the organizers for Madrid's 2016 Games bid on Thursday looked to persuade the International Olympic Committee's evaluation team that its nearly completed infrastructure left it best positioned of the four candidates to weather the current economic crisis.

Organizers revealed that a survey undertaken by the IOC in February showed public support levels for the bid remained high, with 86 percent of Spaniards and 85 percent of Madrid residents wanting to see the Olympics in the Spanish capital.

Organizers said the figure was higher than four years ago, when Madrid lost out to London for the 2012 Games. Full report

Madrid - Madrid expressed again Thursday its confidence in being chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games, and stressed that the ongoing financial and economic crisis would not prevent Spain from organizing the world's largest sports event.

'Here we can hold the Games with or without a crisis, with a very concrete argument: in this country, most of the investment has already been made,' said Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the former president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Spain's only representative in that organ. Full report from Monsters&Critics

State historic preservation officials have entered the battle over Michael Reese Hospital, saying that the South Side medical campus, which Chicago wants to tear down almost in its entirety to make way for an Olympic Village, may be historically significant.

The move marks the first time a government agency has raised a potential hurdle for Mayor Richard Daley and organizers who want to bring the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago.

It also could slow the city's plans to buy the property and quickly resell it to private developers. Full report from the Chicago Tribune

 
The International Olympic Committee began its evaluation of Madrid's 2016 bid Tuesday, while Spanish organizers said claims it spied on a rival candidate stemmed from a "misunderstanding."

Last Friday, Rio de Janeiro's bid organizers stripped a British freelance journalist involved with Madrid's Olympic campaign of his credentials during the tour of the Brazilian city after they learned he had been accredited through Spanish news agency Efe.

Rio's bid committee said officials discovered Simon Walsh was falsely credentialed for Efe just moments before he was to be included in a small group of foreign journalists who met Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"It was a misunderstanding between our communications department and Efe and the journalist who went," Madrid id leader Mercedes Coghen said Tuesday. "If we have to excuse ourselves in front of Rio and in front of (bid leader Carlos) Guzman, we will." Full report

Madrid - Spain's IOC representative Juan Antonio Samaranch jr. thinks US President Barack Obama has the chance to get the 2016 Olympics for his home city, Chicago, thereby eliminating rivals Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

However, Samaranch - the son of the former president of the International Olympic Committee of the same name - warned in an interview with German Press Agency dpa in Madrid that the popular US leader will need more than his proven charisma and skills as a public speaker to make that happen. Full report

"For this movement, the volunteers are at the core of it," said Communication freshman Paula Acuna, a volunteer for Chicago 2016. "Obviously, it's donations too, but for anything to get done, people from the community need to help."

Acuna is one of 139 registered Northwestern student volunteers, led by Weinberg senior Jake Wilson. With 2,500 college student volunteers nationwide, Wilson said efforts to recruit students on campus have been successful. Chicago 2016 declined to release more volunteer statistics until May 11, when the IOC finishes visiting all candidate cities.

"Chicago 2016 has been recruiting college students using grassroots efforts similar to tactics used in President Barack Obama's campaign, said a regional leader for Students Support Chicago 2016, who could not give his name due to Chicago 2016 policy.

"It was the youth that made Obama's 'change' factor so vocal," the regional leader said. "They connect well to so many demographics, and that was really the backbone for us targeting college students." Daily Northwestern report

"

May 2, 2009 (WLS) -- An International Olympic Committee poll reportedly finds nearly half of Tokyo's residents don't want the Games in 2016.

The Reuters news agency says the secret IOC survey revealed only 56 percent local support for bringing the games to Japan. That number is dramatically lower than the 70 percent support Tokyo's bid team claims to have in its own poll.
The IOC commissioned polls in each of the cities competing for the 2016 Games. The results have Full report

Support for Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games inched up to 76 percent, according to the latest nationwide Yomiuri Shimbun opinion poll conducted last month.

The figure represented a rise of 2 percentage points from a survey carried out Jan. 31-Feb. 1. Those who oppose the bid was 17 percent, down 4 points. Full report

MILAN, May 1 (Reuters) - Chicago used the popularity of U.S. President and former city resident Barack Obama to try to boost their 2016 Olympic bid on Friday, tweaking his famous slogan and stating "Yes we will".

"With Mayor Richard Daley in City Hall and Obama in the White House, we have the highest ever political support for an Olympic bid," bid vice president Mike Roberts told the congress.
"Obama is committed to bringing the Games back to the U.S. He's created an Olympic office in the White House." Read the full report 

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made an impassioned pitch to host the 2016 Olympics on Thursday, saying Brazil deserves to host the games and not be treated like a "second-class citizen. 

Silva -- whom U.S. President Barack Obama called the world's most popular politician when the two met at the Group of 20 economic summit this month -- dismissed the notion that the bidding process had become a popularity contest between him and the American leader. USA TODAY report

Besides the sun and samba, Brazilian officials tout the economy, which has fared relatively well in this global economic fallout. So what makes Brazil so special? From the Americas Desk at WLRN, here's Marketplace's Dan Grech.