Obama's Absence From 2016 Olympics Vote Would Be Noted: IOC Member

CHICAGO — President Barack Obama has some fans in the International Olympic Committee.

Obama's absence at next month's vote to award the 2016 Games would be noticed, IOC member Dick Pound said Monday. But he's not sure how it would affect Chicago's chances to bring the Summer Olympics back to the United States for the first time since 1996.

"I don't think there's an IOC member on the planet that wouldn't love to meet your president. He's a transformational figure in the world today," Pound said at a symposium on the 2016 Games sponsored by DePaul and the McCormick Foundation. "If he can be persuaded to go, I think it makes a huge difference."

Chicago is in a tight contest with Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo, and the presence of world leaders has been instrumental in the most recent votes. Tony Blair helped London land the 2012 Games when he met IOC members in Singapore in 2005, and Vladimir Putin traveled to Guatemala City in 2007 to push Sochi's winning bid for the 2014 Winter Games.

Obama has been an ardent supporter of his adopted hometown's bid for the Olympics, videotaping four messages for IOC members in recent months. But he called IOC president Jacques Rogge – personally – last week to say his priority right now must be the fight to reform the health care system.

The White House is sending first lady Michelle Obama, a Chicago native who is wildly popular in her own right, to Copenhagen ahead of the Oct. 2 vote. Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama's top advisers and former vice chair of Chicago 2016, will also travel to Denmark.

Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva already has said he'll be in Copenhagen, as will King Juan Carlos of Spain. Japan has invited incoming Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Crown Prince Naruhito to attend.

"The risk is, your competitors are going to say 'Oh well, you know, he's too busy to come, but he sent his wife.' How that would play, I don't know," Pound said.

Send both Obamas, though, and it would be a "pretty dynamic duo."

But it's the president that would impress the IOC members most – and have the biggest impact.

"If you have a popular and transformational leader and you don't use him, you're not maximizing your chances," Pound said. "To the extent that the mayor and Pat Ryan can twist the presidential arm, they should do that. I think it could make a huge difference."

Comments

[globality]

03:02 PM on 09/16/2009

Brazil shoud get it. There has not been a South American Olympics

BTW our President has better things to do

[ResidualSelfImage]

12:34 PM on 09/16/2009

We cant afford the Olympics.

[mergina]

06:04 AM on 09/16/2009

Dear Mr. Obama. Go to push the Olympics for Chicago, and LOSE 3 OF 4 VOTERS IN CHICAGO FOR YOU AND YOUR CONSTITUENTS. Daley is out in the next election. He has no clue about just how upset Chicagoans are at him, his useless city council, and all who support this pompous overblown excuse for a sporting event.

[AntiSheep13]

09:32 PM on 09/15/2009

Actually Orly told me that he is engaging in backdoor deals so that he can bring the Olympics to his hometown in Kenya.
In all seriousness; Bringing the Olympics here, would create jobs. I know it would only be temporary work but it's work nonetheless.

[47th]

12:00 AM on 09/16/2009

Paying for the Olympics would be a lot more than temporary.

[t iessa]

02:04 AM on 09/16/2009

It took the citizens of Montreal 30 years to pay off their debt caused by the Olympics.

[mergina]

06:08 AM on 09/16/2009

Think about how absurd that is. Paying for the Olympics. An event that awards stupid medals to a trickle of humanity. When did it become such a Pomp Fest, thrusting cities into bankruptcy so a few athletes can compete for medals? It is ridiculous, overblown, outdated, and renders the athletes and all they are capable of insignificant in comparison to the concessions and the greed it spawns.

[AntiSheep13]

01:29 PM on 09/16/2009

I agree with all of you...Blame the modz because I tried to add the problem in which you few have expressed, prior to your posts, but it is lost in cyberspace.

[LCLA]

09:10 PM on 09/15/2009

New Orleans hosted a World's Fair in 1984 on the centennial of the Great Cotton Exposition of 1884. The idea was roundly decried by many, and lots of us were skeptics. Financially it was not a great success. The event itself did not live up to the official financial projections.
However, the event turned out to be a great catalyst for long needed improvements to New Orleans. The sidewalks and streets and sewer systems of the French Quarter were rebuilt. The moribund Central Business District, which had been a bunch of abandoned warehouses and skid row bars and missions, was resurrected to become a thriving tourist hub with hotels, galleries and also became the site of Louisiana's only land casino.
Little or none of this would have happened without the synergy of the 1984 World's Fair.
Before that New Orleans had built the Louisiana Superdome. At $300 million it was considered quite a boondoggle, but the investment has paid off handsomely for New Orleans up to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It is being upgraded and will be once again a premier site for Super Bowls and other extravaganzas which nourish the city's economy.
So, Chicago's bid critics might look to history on the benefits of being an Olympic host site.

[47th]

12:02 AM on 09/16/2009

New Orleans as an example? No thanks.

[LCLA]

10:21 AM on 09/16/2009

You are entitled to your knee jerk reaction, but New Orleans is the example with which I am most familiar. The benefits I pointed out are real and tangible. I'll grant you that New Orleans (much like Chicago!) has had serious problems before and after Katrina, but that was not the topic at hand.

[stevelindg]

07:58 PM on 09/15/2009

The proper response should be along the lines of reduced future tv rights paid by American broadcasters if the City of Chicago does not get the nod. The IOC receives much of their revenue from the US. These broadcasters should have more of a say.

[fallingsky]

04:06 PM on 09/15/2009

Hey,,, With the way Obama has been exposed these past 7 months,,, not being there will help

[LCLA]

08:06 PM on 09/15/2009

Did you figure that out by reading your teabag?
The rest of the world has been listening to what Obama has to say, not what the blowhards have to say about him. They like what they see and hear.
Politically correct racism using code words and such is still racism.

[thundermummy]

09:25 AM on 09/16/2009

The only thing exposed is your pointy head.

[voteblue4evr]

03:29 PM on 09/15/2009

I find it amazing that Daly closed Meigs field because of a 'security risk' yet he wants to host the olympics....whatever dude.

[gradybridges]

04:02 PM on 09/15/2009

That was the excuse, not the reason.

[thundermummy]

09:27 AM on 09/16/2009

The only way I would not bust Daley's b@lls on this would be if he bulldozed Xs into the track during an event. Otherwise I agree, whatever dude indeed.

[festry548]

03:18 PM on 09/15/2009

Good. This Chicagoland resident says we don't need the Olympics. Too disruptive and too bloody expensive. Let some other country deal with it. Besides, President Obama has more important concerns on his plate.

[47th]

09:01 PM on 09/15/2009

Amen! We can't afford this, and the support in town is iffy at best. The President has much more important things to deal with than the Mayor's Ego party!

[mick7191]

02:57 PM on 09/15/2009

I think he has more important tasks to attend to, like teaching the republicans how to heal.

[gavrielle]

02:06 PM on 09/15/2009

So, basically, what they're saying is that if Obama lowers himself to beg them for the Olympics, they'll consider granting his request.

[Truthosaurus]

01:54 PM on 09/15/2009

Please Obama do not stroke the IOC member egos by going to the voting event. Many of us in Chicago are keeping fingers crossed we loose the "vote", of course vote by the corrupt IOC is a relative term, depending on how the members were paid off. Speaking of corruption, the Chicago City Council voted last week to leave the taxpayers on the hook to pay for the IOCs party, should the expenses go over budget. And looking at past history of expenses, they can go way over the estimates. Chicago does not need these "games".

[pmc617]

12:01 PM on 09/15/2009

I'm sure the king and the crown prince were able to clear their busy schedules with some difficulty. Unfortunately, our president has work to do. If the IOC can't distinguish the difference they don't deserve to have the games in Chicago. President Obama's support is well documented and his representatives to the committee are Ideal!

[rchsod]

11:46 AM on 09/15/2009

i thought the "city of broad shoulders" could host the games. the more i read about it seems it`s daley`s wet dream. there are so many problems in chicago and the state that need to be addressed. the taxpayer funded dream of daley`s is`t one of them. let someother city go bankrupt hosting the "games"

[Joe001]

04:28 PM on 09/15/2009

It's not a "taxpayer funded" event unless the cost projections go wildly askew. The expectation is that it will be privately funded. And it would address one of Chicago's biggest problems, which is the moribund economy, by creating thousands of new jobs during the six years of preparations.

[thundermummy]

09:29 AM on 09/16/2009

"It's not a "taxpayer funded" event unless the cost projections go wildly askew"

Yeah, and when has that ever happened in Chicago?

[Dustee]

11:27 AM on 09/15/2009

Don't threaten my President you a**wipes just for your pleasure!