Within the next 24 hours, the International Olympic Committee will be selecting the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. For those of us in Chicago, the anticipation can’t be any higher.
As one who has worked on or for four different Olympic Games since 1996, including a front row seat during the Salt Lake City bid scandal, I believe the 2016 Summer Games host city will come down to this simple question:
Does the Olympic Movement want or really need Chicago?
I believe they want Rio, but they need Chicago.
Actually, they really need Chicago.
While the media will focus on the strength of each city’s bid and the assurances of putting on a world-class 17-day event, there is an underlying tension in the Olympic Movement that rages on:
One-on-end is the ultimate desire of the Olympic Movement wanting to have the Olympic Games hosted on every habitable continent on the world. Since the Games are focus on the world, nothing would please them more to see this mission carried on when awarding the 2016 games. Of the remaining continents, Africa and South America are still waiting for their card to be called.
If this is th...
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