After a two-week break, the members of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the 2016 Olympics meet next week at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland to write their report on the four candidate cities.
The 13-member commission began its work in early April with a visit to Chicago, followed by Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid, ending May 8.
The commission's report is due to be released Sept. 2, the one-month mark to the IOC vote at the Copenhagen Session.
Lausanne Briefing in June Vexes Bid Cities
Leaders of the 2016 cities tell Around the Rings that the June 17-18 briefings for IOC members in Lausanne will be the next test for their campaigns.
"Tremendous effort has gone into all of our presentations to date, including for the Evaluation Commission visit to Rio, which we are very proud of," Carlos Nuzman remarks. "We believe that we have a unique offering for the Olympic Movement and combined with expert input, advance preparation, rehearsals and everyone's unwavering commitment we hope that Lausanne will be very successful."
Chicago's Patrick Ryan tells ATR that building a candidature is like building a winning team that has a lasting impact for generations.
"We have a diverse team with a lot of great ideas," he says, "and right now we are synthesizing and refining our presentation to make sure we deliver the key facts about Chicago and our bid so that they come away with a clear understanding that Chicago would be the best choice for the 2016 Games."
Cities will give 45-minute presentations on the technical aspects of their bids, then answer questions for an additional 45 minutes on the first day. They'll hold an open house on the second day where they can speak to members one-on-one.
"We look forward with great anticipation to being able to share our vision directly with IOC members," Ryan adds, "present our plan in even greater detail, answer any questions they might put forth -- and demonstrate to them how the Games in Chicago would advance the Olympic Movement. This opportunity is good for the IOC membership and really important for each candidate city."
This is will be the first time the IOC has hosted a gathering of this kind and could allow cities to address the greatest number of IOC members before the Oct. 2 presentations.
"We are confident but not complacent about our campaign and our chances to be elected as Host City," Nuzman says. "We have worked very hard in the last 12 months to share our vision with the Olympic Family at General Assemblies, in our Candidate File and during the EC Visit. We do not believe that our chances rest on a single presentation but we do believe that we have consistently managed to communicate our passion, our offer to the Movement and the potential impact the Games could have for Brazil and South America."
Former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch told ATR in Madrid earlier this month that the briefings "are a good idea, but we shall see. The most important part of the meeting is how many IOC members come to Lausanne.
"If only 50 percent of the members come, that is not enough. If it is 70 percent, it is a success -- 50 percent it is not a success."
Madrid CEO Mercedes Coghen has said that IOC President Jacques Rogge told her about 60 members - or more than half of the membership -- could be in attendance.
They will likely be outnumbered by the bid city entourages.
A Tokyo 2016 official says as many as 20 people from the Japanese bid will go to Lausanne, which includes support staff as well as the six credentialed members of the bid team.
Only two Tokyo bid team members are certain so far for those six credentialed slots, CEO Ichiro Kono and Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda.
Neither Rio nor Chicago would publicly name its team members, although Ryan says, "certainly it will be the team the IOC has seen all along."
Says Nuzman, "We prefer not to name our full panel of presenters at this time, but you can be assured that it will be representative of the commitments made in our bid and the IOC's requests with regards to content presentation."
Lula Shares Brazil's Olympic Hopes with China
On an official state visit to China, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held discussions with sports officials and members of the business community about the Beijing Olympics' impact on the country.
"I have gained further valuable insights during my visit and it has helped confirm the importance of political support for a bid," Lula said.
Like China, Brazil is one of the BRIC nations of emerging economies. The others are Russia and India.
"The Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio offer an unparalleled opportunity for celebration and change," Lula said. "As Brazil continues its rise on the world stage and boosts relations with other countries around the world through visits such as these, I make a point of discussing our country's bid for the 2016 Games and its role in our ongoing economic and social transformation."
Chicago Summer of Sport
The Chicago 2016 bid will have volunteer "cheer stations" and distribute water and sports drinks during the Soldier Field 10 Mile on May 23. The event will take more than 9,000 runners through Chicago's Southside before heading north along the lakefront path.
Participants will run through Soldier Field and finish where Chicago hopes to hold Olympic soccer in 2016. The bid will also have a "festival of sport" at the end of the race. More than 100 Chicago 2016 staff and volunteers will run the race.
Soldier Field will again be pressed into action on June 6 for the U.S.-Honduras World Cup qualifier, the fifth game on the U.S. squad's 10-game World Cup qualifying schedule. On Sept. 9, 2007, the last major match at Soldier Field, Brazil beat the U.S. before 43,543 spectators.
As part of the Chicago Summer of Sport,World Sport Chicago and Chicago 2016 are hosting Olympian swimming clinics from May 18 through the end of the month. Olympians Matt Grevers and Christine Magnuson are expected to teach more than 500 kids.
World Sport Chicago will also host more than 250 athletes from 18 countries for the Pan-American, Ibero-American and USA National Weightlifting Championships June 3-7 at the UIC Forum at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Briefs…
… About 8,000 people saw four Olympic champions win their events during a Grand Prix athletics meet featuring 175 athletes from 29 countries at João Havelange Stadium on May 17. Brazil's Maurren Maggi (long jump), New Zealand's Valerie Vili (shot put), Cuba's Osleydis Menéndez (javelin) and Slovenia's Primož Kozmus (hammer) again took the gold, while Portugal's Nelson Évora (triple jump) and Poland's Szymon Ziolkowski (hammer) placed third in their events.
…About 1,000 participants got a close view of Tokyo 2016's Olympic and Paralympic Games venues plan during the 10km Tokyo Bay Walking event. The walk was organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and passed a number of proposed Games venues.
"Walking the course really heightens awareness of the compactness of Tokyo 2016's Bid plan," said Akemi Masuda, who represented Japan in the women's marathon in the 1984 Olympic Games. "The venues are so close together! Tokyo 2016 will be very convenient, not only for athletes, but also for spectators and visitors."
…Four major international sports events will be held in Madrid this weekend, which bid leaders hope will demonstrate the city's fitness to host the 2016 Games. The Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, the Spanish International Badminton Tournament, the Madrid International Five-star Show Jumping Contest and the Villa de Madrid Fencing World Cup (men's sabre competition) will be held at different venues across the city.
"Madrid has a huge amount of experience hosting international sporting events and we're thrilled to welcome such a diverse range of sports to our city," Coghen, the Madrid bid leader, said. "Madrileños and Spaniards live for sport and the combination of world class venues and passionate local support makes Madrid one of the best cities in the world to compete in."
Madrid has hosted more than 250 international sporting events over the last 10 years.
Media Watch
Alan Abrahamson of Universal Sports blogs on the Olympics in "Inside the Rings."
http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=3658763
With reporting from Karen RosenFor general comments or questions, click here
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