On the Scene: 2016 Cities Display Exhibits for IOC

One of the touchscreens used by the Madrid 2016 team in their exhibit space. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)

Madrid Reinforces Message with Exhibit for IOC

Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon tells Around the Rings the city’s Olympic bid has strengthened its ties with IOC members after showcasing the Spanish capital’s 2016 Games plans in an exhibition setting Thursday.

“I think it has been really fantastic, a lot of IOC members have come here,” he said. “They have found a very strong bid and we are very happy.”

Around 60 IOC members visited the exhibition stands for the four bid cities at the Lausanne Palace Business Center, an initiative designed to support the bid city briefings held yesterday. Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid had presented to 93 IOC members in closed-door sessions at the Olympic Museum.

The Madrid 2016 team used interactive video screen technology, dubbed the Magic Mirror, to get their message across to IOC members. The Ad Notam system was being used for the first time by the Spanish bid.

Bid officials including CEO Mercedes Coghen, Spanish sports minister Jaime Lissavetsky and Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, greeted the exclusive group of visitors and answered questions about different elements of the bid.

Sports director Raul Chapado was on hand to explain the city’s 2016 vision via the touchscreen display; technical details on the transport plan, Olympic Village, accommodation and venues could be called up in seconds.

Gallardon told ATR there was particular interest in the Olympic Stadium concept and the location of Valencia, proposed site of the sailing program, on the venue map. He stressed that the coastal city was only one hour 30 minutes from Madrid.

Chapado said quite a number of IOC members wanted to get a closer look at the spatial relationship between the main stadium and athletes’ village as well as other venues. Supported by the display, he explained that 52 percent of athletes would compete less than five minutes from the village; 80 percent of competitors would be based less than 10 minutes from their sports venue, he added.

Rio Takes Visitors Full Circle

Rio 2016 secretary general Carlos Roberto Osorio tells Around the Rings that the Candidate City Briefings experience "clearly was more important to Rio than for the others."

"Lausanne was critical for us," he said. "It gave us the opportunity to prove ourselves and to show that our project is sound and solid."

Osorio said he didn't keep track of how many IOC members visited the Rio 2016 exhibition room Thursday, but "sometimes it was difficult to move."

Osorio, president Carlos Nuzman, Mayor Eduardo Paes and Gov. Sergio Cabral were among the bid leaders greeting the IOC.

Rio 2016's Mario Cilenti demonstrates the 360-degree touchscreen in the Lausanne Palace. (ATR/Panasonic: Lumix)Two interactive touchscreens showed 360-degree overhead views of the city, including the Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf Mountain. Visitors also could see athletes running on the track, then pan around to see the faces of the spectators.

"We had the technology to go into the detail of all aspects of the project," Osorio said. "We were amazed by the interest of the members. They said, 'Let me see where is the press tribune at the field hockey, on Field B? What is the vantage point? Where is the entrance?'"

He said presidents of international federations would scrutinize their own sports, while Olympians wanted to see the athletes' village, the training center and particularly the Olympic Beach.

The plan even spotlighted Fort Copacabana, which isn't a venue, but will be the site of the IOC Session and IOC lounge during the Games.

Osorio declined to say how much the touchscreens cost. "Well, it was not cheap," he said, "but it was a good investment."

Osorio said Rio was pleased to get its message across and received good feedback. "We have a few tricks to pull out of our hat," he said, "but I cannot tell you at this point. "We have a large hat."

Chicago Shows IOC Compact Plan

Walking into the Chicago 2016 exhibition room Thursday gave the impression of floating in on a hot air balloon.

A 270-degree panorama greeted visitors and showed 24 of the venues. "The idea was to be able to demonstrate as much of our venue plan as we could in one picture," Doug Arnot, director of sport, venues and operations, tells ATR. "It immerses them in the middle of Chicago. They see the greenery, they see the lake, they see how close everything is and they begin to gather that this could be quite an experience.

"It's really trying to get to the notion of a true Olympiad in the center of the city and I think it captured it very well."

The room was both high tech (with a touch screen) and low tech (with drawings propped against the wall).

The panorama featured four distinct areas: the athletes' village, Olympic Stadium, Buckingham Fountain in the center of the city and Lincoln Park.

Arnot said 67 IOC members came through. Each received a drawing by a schoolchild that had been personalized. Chicago brought enough drawings for all 107 IOC members, although only 93 arrived in Lausanne. One was in Braille for Sir Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee.

"There were a lot of detailed questions," Arnot said. "There were questions about information that we were unfortunately vague about in the bid book."

He said that included details about NOC services, such as freight grants, and the cycling village in Madison, Wis. "It was a very good opportunity to give them supplemental information," he said.

Chicago was at one end of the corridor, so many members visited it first. Arnot, Michael Halchak, the primary Games designer; Bill Scherr, director of sport, and Michael Conley of World Sport Chicago were often conducting tours at the same time.

"The members came prepared," Arnot said. "They were interested, they were involved and they seemed to genuinely enjoy the room very much."

Tokyo Technology Gets Thumbs Up

IOC members visiting the Tokyo 2016 room were treated to a fly-through of the main stadium proposed for the Games through video goggles.

Mikako Kotani shows an image of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)Those members of the 2016 IOC Evaluation Commission checking in on the Japanese exhibit today were familiar with the technology after donning the goggles during the commission’s inspection visit to Tokyo last month.

“They all love the technology,” Mikako Kotani, chair of Tokyo 2016’s Athletes' Commission, tells ATR. Interactive displays were also part of today’s experience for IOC members keen to get more detailed insights into the bid plans.

Kotani was joined by bid leaders including CEO Ichiro Kono and Tsunekazu Takeda, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, to explain the Olympic plans and respond to queries.

According to Kotani, many IOC members wanted to clarify the distances of venues in relation to the Olympic Village.

“They were confirming the information from yesterday and from the bid file,” said the bronze medalist in synchronized swimming at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

There was also plenty of interest from IOC members about environmental aspects of the bid.

Kotani said there were “many compliments” about the solar panel roof proposal for the Olympic stadium and more praise for the wavy, natural turf roof design of the Youth Plaza, which would stage gymnastics, basketball, badminton and modern pentathlon in two halls.

With reporting from Mark Bisson and Karen Rosen.

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