Bidding for the Games: Chicago News, Sarkozy for Rio, No Obama for Copenhagen?

Chicago Wins Host City Contract OK

The 50-member Chicago city council ratified legislation Wednesday that will authorize the signing of the host city contract should the bid for the 2016 Olympics be successful. The vote was 49-0.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley soughtthe council action after he was rebuffed by the IOC in June over a request that the IOC modify the host city contract for Chicago to insert a $500 million limit on a city guarantee for the Games.

Daley then said he would sign the contract as is, but that provoked controversy on the city council, leading to a series of hearings and today’s vote.

Chicago 2016 chief Patrick Ryan told a U.S. Olympic Committee meeting in Chicago Wednesday morning that he expects that as many as 45 of the city alderman will vote in favor of the legislation.

Chicago 2016 Chief Says Bid is Not First

Chicago 2016 CEO Patrick Ryan says he believes the bid is not in the lead as the race heads into its final weeks. Ryan spoke to annual U.S. Olympic Assembly meeting in Chicago.

Ryan said that when Chicago began competing to be the U.S. candidate in the spring of 2007, "We knew it was a marathon. . The winner is the one who can sprint at the finish line and reach over and cross before the others. That's our goal.

"We know we're not in first place right now and that feels good," Ryan said, "because the first-place position in past recent history at this time of the competition is not the best place to be, we want to be in first place right at the finish line as we finish the presentation on Oct. 2."

IOC Session Organizers Expect Obama Decision in Days

While the possibility of an appearance by Barack Obama at the IOC Session in Copenhagen appears to be dwindling, organizers of the meeting say they need to know soon.

“We have heard rumors but nothing is confirmed yet. It should be settled within the next week; we have security matters which have to be handled,” said Karl Christian Koch, secretary general of the Danish NOC and chair of the coordination committee for the Olympic meetings.

Danish security forces in cooperation with the organizing committee have been making preparations for months in anticipation of Obama’s arrival. IOC member from Denmark Kai Holm has said that security costs for the meetings may exceed $3 million if Obama travels to the city.

Obama, a native of Chicago, was expected to clear a space in his diary to attend the Oct. 2 vote where the IOC will choose between the U.S. city, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo for the 2016 Games.

But Obama faces a difficult political scene in the U.S. over his efforts to reform health care. And just days before the IOC vote, the president will host the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

Koch said an IOC delegation making its final inspection visit to Copenhagen this week ahead of the Olympic gathering was “fully satisfied” with the progress of preparations. “We are also satisfied. Everything is running to schedule,” he said.

“All the lines are clear now and we are sure that together with the IOC we will handle this well and it will be a success.”

Koch confirmed that 1,200 delegates will participate in the session and congress; 1,300 media are accredited, although most are only attending for the 2016 announcement.

Tokyo Looks to Hatoyama

While Chicago 2016 chiefs wait for word on Obama, the Tokyo bid tells ATR it is hoping Japan's new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama will shortly confirm his presence in Copenhagen.

Hatoyama is to be confirmed as prime minister Sep. 16. His Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide victory last month over Taro Aso and the Liberal Democratic Party. Aso, an Olympian in shooting at the 1976 Montreal Games, had been a staunch supporter of the bid.

Bid leaders hope Hatoyama will show the conviction of his support by travelling to the Danish capital to help lobby IOC members. Tokyo has also invited Crown Prince Naruhito to attend.

Tokyo 2016 CEO and chair Ichiro Kono has said the country’s change of leadership won’t impact the bid in the final weeks before the IOC vote.

Olympic Plane for Madrid

Mayor of Madrid Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón has unveiled the Olympic plane which will fly the Madrid 2016 delegation to Copenhagen on Sept. 30.

“To baptize a plane is to give wings to a dream”, said Ruiz-Gallardón Tuesday at the presentation of the aeroplane. “The Airbus 321 will take off on 30 September, and will return, I hope, on Saturday 3 October with the assignment of Madrid as the venue for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The plane donated by Iberia displays the bid logo. The airline has also sponsored a second plane which will transport the rest of the bid delegation to the Danish capital. Iberia recently became the 68th corporate sponsor of the bid. King Juan Carlos of Spain will also fly to Copenhagen to press the case for Madrid 2016.

Sarkozy Champions Rio Bid

French President Nicolas Sarkozy voiced his support for the Rio 2016 bid effort during a visit to Brazil this week.

“France supports Rio's candidacy for 2016. All our votes are yours, and we hope it happens,” he told a joint news conference with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia. Lula is expected to attend the IOC Session in Copenhagen.

The bid team appear to be growing in confidence on the back of an IOC Evaluation Report published Sept. 2 that gave generally good marks to Rio.

Speaking in Cuba this week where he was spreading the bid message, Rio 2016 secretary general Carlos Roberto Osorio was in upbeat mood. “We are very optimistic. We know that it is hard work to compete with developed nations but we believe we have good options since we fulfilled the technical requirements of the International Olympic Committee,” he told the Prensa Latina newspaper.

Jose Ramon Fernandez, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, said he hoped the 2016 Games would be awarded to Brazil.

Coe Says 2016 Race Too Close to Call

London Olympics organizing committee chair Sebastian Coe says the 2016 bid contest is even tighter than the 2012 race.

"I think we probably recognized at this stage in the 2012 round that London and Paris probably had the momentum, and you could probably at that point have looked at the other cities and said at least two of them are beginning to tread water,” he said in an interview with AP on Monday.

“It's very difficult to say that about any of these cities,” Coe added.

The double Olympic gold medalist was credited with steering the London bid to victory over 2012 favorites Paris. The British capital won the right to stage the Games by just four votes: 54-50.

“They are all cities quite capable of staging extraordinary games,” Coe said of the 2016 finalists. “All have very smart, very clear visions. This one [race] is probably posing many IOC members bigger questions than for some of the other rounds.”

China Faces 2018 Decision

China's northeastern cities of Harbin and Changchun are vying to become the country’s candidate to bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Harbin has been favorite to be chosen by the government. But a challenge is coming from Changchun, capital of Jilin province, which hosted the 2007 Asian Winter Games. The Chinese Olympic Committee must submit the name of its bid city to the IOC by Oct. 15.

The cities have informed the state council of their bid intentions but have apparently yet to deliver bid reports to the COC, according to Chinese media.

“Harbin and Jilin both have had experience in hosting international winter competitions," sports minister Liu Peng told reporters in Beijing on Monday. “Whether to bid for the Winter Olympics firstly depends on the enthusiasm of the potential host cities. If they are really enthusiastic to bid, we will certainly support them.”

Only the 1972 Olympic city Munich, Pyeongchang in South Korea and the French Alpine town of Annecy have so far announced 2018 bid plans.

With reporting from Mark Bisson.