Trump Problem for U.S. Olympic Bid?

(ATR) Donald Trump says disrespect of the United States was behind the fourth-place finish of Chicago in the race for the 2016 Olympics.

In a speech last week in Washington DC where he addressed foreign policy matters, the candidate for the Republican presidential nomination put the IOC rejection of Chicago seven years ago on a list of "humiliations" that the US has suffered abroad.

"Do you remember when the President made a long and expensive trip to Copenhagen, Denmark to get the Olympics for our country, and, after this unprecedented effort, it was announced that the United States came in fourth place?," Trump asked.

"He should have known the result before making such an embarrassing commitment," he said.

Chicago was the first city eliminated when the IOC voted at the 2009 Copenhagen session, with Istanbul, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro the other candidates.

Trump’s feelings about the 2016 IOC vote are not a new revelation. They’re similar to remarks he made in a 2010 interview with CNN, but it may have been the first time he has brought up the Chicago defeat during this campaign for the presidential nomination.

Regardless of the dismay expressed by Trump about the demise of Chicago, if Trump is elected president he still should be in favor of the Los Angeles bid, prominent sports business executive Harvey Schiller tells Around the Rings.

"I know him and there's no question that he will be supportive of America's bid city. He won't be a late comer to the effort," says Schiller, a New Yorker who was part of the campaign for the ill-fated 2012 bid from New York City. In the 1990s, Schiller was secretary general of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Schiller also notes that Hillary Clinton, considered the likely Democratic nominee, should be a strong supporter of the LA bid. He’s familiar with her from his days at the USOC in addition to her involvement with the New York 2012 bid. She was a U.S. senator at the time and flew to Singapore in 2005 to back the bid at the IOC session.

"Hillary traveled to Lillehammer as part of the US delegation [to the 1994 Winter Olympics] and has always been supportive of the Olympic movement," says Schiller.

Besides going to Lillehammer as First Lady, she went to Olympia in 1996 for the flame lighting for the Atlanta Olympics and later attended the Games. Mrs. Clinton and the President hosted receptions at the White House for four U.S. Olympic teams.

Mrs. Clinton has not made any public comments about the Olympics or the Los Angeles 2024 bid that have been reported during the current presidential campaign.

That might change in the coming weeks as the California primary looms June 7. The contest for nomination delegates for both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates from California could put the focus on local issues such as the Los Angeles bid.

Los Angeles 2024 bid leaders spent three days in Washington this week to brief members of Congress as well as federal agencies that would be involved with supporting an Olympic Games in the U.S. The White House is already on the record supporting the Los Angeles bid and a letter from President Barack Obama was submitted with LA’s initial filing the IOC. LA 2024 as indicated that it will brief the presidential candidates after the nominating conventions for both parties in July.

While Los Angeles might feel confident about winning the backing for the bid from whoever is elected president, there are some cautionary words from an IOC member from the Americas. Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba warns that her colleagues are listening to what the candidates are saying.

"I do believe that the outcome of the U.S. elections will have an impact on the US bid for the 2024 Games," she tells ATR.

"Depending on who will win the electoral process, it will affect the image of the US around the world, especially in view of the rhetoric of candidate Donald Trump against foreigners, Muslims and any group or person that is not to his liking. Does not really send a signal of people feeling welcome to visit the USA!

"I certainly hope that the American people realize that they elect not only the President of their country, but also the leader of the so called Free World, the person who strongly influences - positively or negatively - the world at so many levels," says Hoevertsz, now in her tenth year as an IOC member.

Around the Rings has contacted the campaigns of the leading candidates, Republican and Democrat, with questions about whether they will support the Los Angeles Olympic bid, including travel to Lima, Peru where the IOC session to decide the 2024 host will be held in September 2017. So far the campaigns have not responded.

Written by Ed Hula.

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