I am going to focus the next few weeks on the Olympics. Why? October 2 in the morning in Copenhagen the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will meet to decide who will have the honor of hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. Maybe I have never had a close interest in the cities that were voted on before, but I have been following this process ever since Chicago was picked in 2007 to be the United States' city to bid for the olympics. I love the Olympics, the sports are what it is about but the planning and design and attention that it attracts beyond the sports is also what I find fascinating.
Once the winning city gets the nod to host the games they have seven short years to transform into the capital of sports. They will host the world for a brief time, the whole world watching, hoping their athletes win. The city must make their transportation systems run smoothly, the hotel rooms will be packed, the city-wide concerts and nightly celebrations will be precisely timed and planned. This is the time for that City to show the world how they can party and host the greatest sporting event ever. Yes we all arent into ping pong or ribbon dance gymnastics, but someone in the world is and I think that is what is great about the Olympics.
Now on to Chicago. My last post was about WHY I think Chicago should win the Olympics. Today the IOC posted their repots on each city. In April of this year, a 13 member delegation from the IOC came to each city to listen to the bid teams, tour the venues and mingle with celebrities to lobby for their city's right to host. I skimmed the report this morning and well, no city really stands out as THE city to win. I think it's a great synopsis of what each city has to offer, their style for hosting and the general analysis of each essential component to their bid (Security, Transport, Venues, etc).
What I do think is interesting is that while Chicago has their challenges and the IOC has some concerns (sponsorship, transportation plans, etc), Rio has the biggest issues especially concerning safety and transportation. Rio is going to have to do a huge transformation of their city to host the games. The IOC is naturally concerned about displacement of slums, gentrification, and the guarantee that all venues and transport systems proposed can be built on time. The lack of good quality hotel rooms and the fact that they can't guarantee the use of cruise ships docked in the harbor for hotel space is a concern as well. Chicago has the rooms, we have the security and we wont be displacing people. We have a unique chance to fix the things that are wrong with our transport system, yet we dont have to build a brand new one. 6 of the 10 major Olympic sponsors are US corporations, sponsorships will not be a problem.
Tokyo's government just changed hands for the first time since the 1950's. while the new prime minister has voiced support for the games and they have the financial backing of their government, Citizen popularity is low in support. The IOC also found fault in their venues (apparently they listed a few venues as "built" and they havent been built yet...). Their lackluster public voice will be a big factor I think in their loss.
Madrid, well, all i have to say is Yawn. Their bid has been kind of boring from the beginning. I applaud them on education and legacy efforts, making the games an educational experience for their youth and really focusing on how to continue the Olympic spirit in their city and nation post olympics. However, it's just a boring bid. No real wow factor to it. They lost to London for the 2012 bid, and I think this is their last real effort to go for it again, why not think outside the box and do something spectacular? Hire a better PR firm to really get the word out there and say that the london games are not the same as a spanish games? Evoke Barcelona, the games that most people point as the beginning of the modern movement of the Olympics in terms of urban planning, design and spectacle. Does anyone NOT remember the archer shooting the arrow into the cauldron? AWE. SOME. Second to that is the Sydney games where the runner throws the torch into the water and the cauldron rises up out of that, pretty neat.
Anyways, Chicago i think will win in the end. They will blow people out of the water in Copenhagen, Obama will appear and share his love about Chicago and the world will cheer in August 2016 when we open the summer games in Chicago. Fingers crossed for October!
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