Chicago 2016 One Year Later

Has it really been a year? A year since "Black Friday" in The Windy City?

Until receiving an email from World Sport Chicago on Friday, it almost slipped by this weekend: The anniversary of Rio de Janiero winning the 2016 Olympic Games bid, and Chicago's first-round elimination in the big vote at Copenhagen.

The loss for Chicago was a disappointment to thousands of people, notably the hard-working army of volunteers who donated time and resources to World Sport Chicago and the multi-year bid effort.

On this day, there are likely folks in Madrid and Tokyo pondering their Olympic dreams denied as well.

It still hurts thinking about the stunning news delivered via satellite when my girlfriend, her sister, thousands of Olympic enthusiasts and I stood shoulder to shoulder in Daley Plaza on a Friday morning. Like Phil Rogers expression and the "face" of the plaza's famous Picasso sculpture, the devastating news -- Chicago was out -- left us all breathless and frozen. Stunned silence. Like a kick hit everyone in the solar plexus.

I was very happy to learn yesterday, however, that one year later, World Sport Chicago, NBC 5 in Chicago and others collaborated to create a one year later video titled "Making Big Plans: The Story of Chicago's Olympic Dream" to focus on the positive aspects of the bid, and (I suspect) to close the books on the 2016 with an inspirational message for a future potential attempt to host the Olympic Games in Chicago. This was a classy move.

The trailer for the film includes Patrick Ryan, father of the bid, Mayor Daley and other key players from Chicago 2016. Here's wishing someone can share a recording of the full broadcast with me -- I really would like to view it.

Love that Ryan states "Chicago didn't lose. Rio won. But Chicago won in so many ways" and Mayor Daley summed it up with, "You have to take risks and if you don't you never succeed in life, and that's why I'm glad we did it in Chicago."

In my bones I have a feeling that Chicago will someday be a great Olympic host city. For 2016, it just wasn't our turn again for North America and the U.S. When another bid team is ready to start work, sign me up to help make some big plans.

Chicago, Don't Tease Me

Catching up on weekend Olympic headlines, came across a UPI.com story noting that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley shared advice for future administrations (since he will not seek reelection) regarding a possible 2020 Olympic bid.

It hasn't yet been a year since Rio de Janiero won the Games for 2016 (with Chicago out in early voting by the International Olympic Committee -- that was a long and gray day in The Windy City).

According to the article, Daley's caution was that the IOC is likely to continue selection of host cities based on geographic locations where the Games did not yet visit: Africa, the Middle East, India.

While I tend to agree with this assessment, the Olympics have not been to the Midwest U.S. since St. Louis in 1904 -- only a state away from Chicago. Could this be a shimmer of hope for Chicago that Mayor Daley inadvertently planted?

Given the Commonwealth Games fiasco in India, that does perhaps move that nation way down the "next for the Olympics" target list. Africa could indeed be a contender. Not sure about the Middle East.

Whatever the case, Chicago, please don't tease! Will the city jump into another bid? That would be something!

Photo via UPI.com

Room With A View

In Chicago this Friday, looks like Daley Plaza is not the only option for viewing the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid decision live. Check out these indoor venues noted by Concierge Preferred Chicago on their blog.

Mayor Richard Daley has a busy week in progress. Here's a link to some of his comments last year regardign the bid.

Hail To The Chief!

Bravo, President Obama! The former Man About Chicago today hosted a Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid sendoff on The White House lawn. Glad to see this Executive Branch support weeks before the big vote at the IOC Olympic Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Oct. 2. Would be cool to be there!

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (interview with him from Beijing available here) gave an inspiring speech regarding Chicago Olympians who competed in the 1936 Games of Berlin.

News reports from today's event in Washington include scenes similar to the Chicago 2016 live athletic demonstrations at the IOC Evaluation Commission visit in April. Michelle Obama is set to be the U.S. delegation lead in the Danish city. Go, Chicago, GO!

The IOC currently offers a video contest through which they will give two individuals an all expenses jaunt to Copenhagen! To enter, anyone may submit their own video via YouTube. It was fun to view many of the fellow competitors' videos (good luck, everyone!) -- the important thing is not to win but to compete!

Here's a link to the official contest rules; deadline to post is Sept. 22.

Photo via Yahoo! News and the Associated Press/AP Photo

Logo via IOC and International World Games Association website

Spotlight Chicago

On Thursday in Chicago, a small delegation of International Olympic Committee members arrived for their Evaluation Commission visit to assess The Windy City's potential as the 2016 Summer Olympic Games host.

Both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times (and many other media outlets) have early reports on the IOC arrivals, including a photo gallery highlighting the IOC evaluators (for those reading in Atlanta, see if you can spot the former Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games ACOG executive in the Sun-Times' gallery -- hint: he has been in the "bid biz" since the late 1980s).

During the next few days, I will be volunteering with Chicago 2016 and Tweeting from the experience (twitter.com/nickwolaver) while posting on this blog as time and the scope of the volunteer assignment permits.

As I understand it, one of the "E.C." activities will be in progress as my afternoon United flight touches down at O'Hare -- the iconic John Hancock Center hosts a private sunset gathering in its newly refurbished Observatory from which guests can see four states and all of Chicago's magnificence (my girlfriend and I visited last summer and it is spectacular). (disclosure: the John Hancock Observatory is a client of Edelman, the P.R. firm where I work)

At least a couple of reports state that one Chicago "Big O" and our nation's "Big O" will meet with the world's "Big O" Games executives while they are in town. Oh, to be in the thick of Chicago's Olympic bid gives me big, oh ... um ... goosebumps.

Reminds me of this one time in Beijing when Chicago's Mayor Daley shared a few minutes in front of my Flip Camera to talk about the bid.

But seriously, the Olympic bid process is fascinating to me, and I hope to learn a bit more about the nuts and bolts of the effort while contributing to Chicago's Olympic bid team.

Anyone can volunteer or be a part of it with just a few clicks -- more than 1.1 million people already clicked their support, and many of them are following Chicago 2016 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/chi2016.

See you in the Second City!

Join The Millions

If you witnessed the throngs of people at Obama’s inauguration this week, or at his acceptance speech in Chicago last November, you know that more than one million people were in those TV broadcasts and photographs, each taking in their little piece of history.

Enjoy being part of a cool group?

Want to help make a little Olympic history?

If so, I encourage you to cruise over to the Chicago 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Bid website, where more than one million people already registered their support (I was stunned, but not entirely surprised, to see how this number has grown since my fall 2008 posts about Chicago Mayor Daley in Beijing – his rockin’ video is still online).

Chicago is working hard to secure the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and they need YOUR support before the big International Olympic Committee vote in October 2009. (disclosure: the International Paralympic Committee is a client of Edelman, the P.R. agency where I work)

By becoming a supporter, you may read more about the Olympic Bid activities and upcoming events at which to volunteer (not in Chicago? You may also volunteer for online/virtual volunteer activities!). You may also view videos of support from gymnasts, Michael Phelps and other Olympic champions.

If you are on Facebook, become a Chicago 2016 fan with just a few clicks.

Still need convincing? I will send an Olympic pin to the first three people who join either group AND post comment on this blog stating they did so.

Thank you for supporting Chicago 2016!

Less Than One Year

Just the other day (Oct. 2 to be exact), the calendar marked “one year to go” for the International Olympic Committee’s selection of the 2016 Olympic host city. Four cities – Rio de Janiero, Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo – remain in the running to host the Games of the XXXIst Olympiad.

Toward the conclusion of the Beijing Games, on level two of the Olympic Green McDonald’s, the top executives for all four cities gathered for the only combined press conference, a media breakfast and panel discussion hosted by the team at Around The Rings.

It was an interesting press conference, featuring some of the world’s smartest business and sports executives (with their P.R. counsel at their side – loved it!). ATR Founder Ed Hula was the moderator, with topics such as each bid city’s key messages and challenges covered while a couple dozen Olympic Movement reporters took notes and TV cameras rolled.

During the Q&A session following the program, I took the opportunity to pose the question, “What keeps you up at night about your bid and competition for the Games hosting duties?” Unfortunately, the metonymy “keeps you up at night” was lost in translation for CEOs of Rio, Tokyo and Madrid (each executive fell back to their message points about their strengths, a sign their media relations counselors trained them well).

It was very cool that Chicago’s Olympic bid leader, Mr. Patrick Ryan (Aon Corporation founder and executive chairman), gave a frank yet upbeat answer, reporting that Chicago’s main challenge (and cause for “lost winks” of sleep – another phrase sure to be lost in translation) is that The Windy City is well known in North America but not so much globally (while the cities from Japan, Spain and Brazil each are by-and-large ‘brand name’ destination cities with worldwide recognition). Thank you, Mr. Ryan! (His team created some great videos in China.)

Ryan’s remarks inspired me (during my last few days in China) to ask several hundred people, “Have you ever heard of Chicago?” and/or “Do you know what makes Chicago a great potential Olympic host?”

It was fun to learn that lots of the unofficial poll responders were very familiar with Chicago, with most having a favorable impression (though mostly from feature films of John Hughes).

Mr. Ryan’s sleepless in Chicago nights might be justified, however, as very few of those questions (mostly Chinese nationals or Europeans) could name any major sports events or teams from Lake Michigan’s shoreline metropolis (I laughed hard when one person from Japan actual mentioned my girlfriend’s hometown of Milwaukee, Wis., and their Brewers as a 'Chicago sports team').

One Mr. Nice Guy in Beijing who also took time to answer my Olympic Bid questions was none other than Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. This guy ROCKS! I would love to see Chicago win 2016 for a million reasons – among them, to affirm Mayor Daley’s remarks (which he graciously repeated when I had a Flip Camera snafu inside USA House in Beijing -- see video).

It will certainly be intriguing to track the candidates during the next 350-or-so days, and I’ll post some additional details and comments on each city in future posts. Good luck, Chicago. Boa sorte, Rio. 良い運 to Tokyo and buena suerte, Madrid. And THANK YOU, Obrigado, Gracias and ありがとうto the bid executives for answering my P.R. questions on site at the Around The Rings breakfast event.