Paris 2024 -- Part One: The Arrival

About a month ago -- May 12, to be exact -- I boarded an Air France flight at LAX bound for Paris.

Ooh, la la -- what an amazing experience the trek to the Paris 2024 IOC Evaluation Commission events proved to be. 

Now, before diving in to the French connections made during six days in the City of Light, a quick note from the similar LA2024 experience the prior week.

For arriving media during that experience, the organizers and U.S. Olympic Committee were very generous in providing an Uber account for use in the City of Angels -- much appreciated. It was reassuring to know that upon arrival I could quickly get my own transportation to our downtown media hotel.

So on the approach to Charles de Gaulle airport, I took similar comfort in knowing -- via text from our Paris hosts -- that "someone will meet you at the airport to coordinate transportation."

I envisioned getting through customs, picking up my bag then searching for a welcome committee volunteer or similar to help me board a bus into Paris. 

You can imagine my surprise and delight to find my greeting smiling with his sign "Beinvenue, Monsieur Wolaver" only two steps off the plane and into the gateway. In moments, I was whisked through the diplomat line at customs, acquired my checked back (expedited) and invited to relax in the back of a Mercedes-Benz limousine-style sedan for the drive into the city.

Speechless!

ATR Reporter Kevin w/Mayor Hidalgo

Two hours later our international media entourage joined Paris 2024 communications team members on a floating restaurant on the Seine, later joined by the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, who spoke with each of us 1x1 with a personal welcome.

We also shook hands with several Olympians including Paris 2024 Co-Chairman Tony Estanguet, the three-time Olympic champion in canoe/slalom.

We drank so much wine I don't recall much about the walk and ride to the hotel except the Saturday night riverbank crowds, the strobe and search lights atop the Eiffel Tower, and the warm glow of an exciting welcome to Paris on the eve of my 44th birthday. Welcomed, indeed!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Games-Minded Media Explored Potential Olympic Venues While IOC Evaluation Commission Quizzed LA2024 Leadership on Wednesday

The official first day of the 2024 IOC Evaluation Commission on Wednesday included more than a half-day of Q&A for LA2024 bid executives and simultaneous venue tours for media during the closed selection process.

May 10 began early with International Olympic Committee officials greeting LA2024's bid team to their 35 hot seats facing two rows of about 20 Evaluation Commission desks in a large downtown conference room. 

Media enjoyed access to opening remarks by IOC Member and Commission Chair Patrick Baumann before the Los Angeles team leaders -- including the city's Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman flanked by the IOC's three delegates to the United States Anita DeFrantz, Angela Ruggiero and Larry Probst -- took turns sharing personal stories of their past Los Angeles Olympic experiences. 

Citing her review of 74 Olympic bid campaigns and her work on eight previous USA bids, DeFrantz put into context the task at hand for her fellow IOC members across the table.

"One of the biggest responsibilities of IOC membership is selecting host cities," DeFrantz said, adding her colleagues at LA2024 are the "finest [she had] ever seen."

Wasserman and Garcetti earned the nickname "boys of the Olympics" of 1984 as both were kids when Los Angeles last hosted the summer Games. DeFrantz spoke of the many legacies of LA84 while Probst and Ruggiero spoke of their passion for a future legacy should the IOC's decision favor California when the Commission votes in September.

Paris, which also hosted two summer Olympiads and presented bids for 1992 and 2012 is LA's lone candidate, with the IOC and media embarking to France this Friday.

I snapped a few photos from the media platform and spotted many faces of LA2024 staff who appeared relaxed and eager to share their part of the city's bid presentation. Calm, cool and collected are each apt descriptors for everyone with the bid team, and though many must have felt a degree of relief after Wednesday's most intense of the three-day Commission visit, guarded confidence seems to reign with this group. 

After the opening session, media boarded buses to the day's first tour stop, Pasadena's iconic Rose Bowl. Olympic medalist and world champion Brandi Chastain spoke with reporters outside the stadium before joining the entourage of reporters and cameras on the field that made her a world icon of female strength. 

In her prepared remarks, Chastain mentioned her first Olympic experience came as a teenage volunteer during LA84. During some 1x1 Q&A on the way into the stadium, I asked her to expand on that story of the first experience, and Chastain explained she vividly recalled "waiting hours and hours for her uniform and credential" and how that experience became "... just a preview, and I didn't know it, of what it would be like to be part of the Olympic Family." 

After on-the-field photos and a few more questions, media trekked south an oceanside rooftop experience atop the Long Beach Hyatt Place Hotel overlooking the harbor, Queen Mary cruise ship, shipping cranes and the sands that would welcome spectators for water polo, triathon. sailing, BMX cycling, open water swimming and handball. 

Southern California-based Olympians Tony Azevedo and Haley Anderson spoke briefly and answered questions on their roles with LA2024's Athlete's Advisory Team. 

The high rise media stop also afforded me a few minutes to speak with Olympic gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin, who joined the media tours most of the day to photograph and post several social media items in real time. We chatted about the bid team experience and a few mutual connections to Olympic gymnastics in Oklahoma.

Then the group was off again to Stubhub Center at which media enjoyed lunch and more venue peeks before LA2024's press conference announcing a detailed Sustainability Plan. Slightly exhausted and sunburned in spite of an overcast sky, media returned downtown in time for a pair of end-of-Day-One press conferences hosted by the IOC and LA2024, respectively, at Staples Center. 

During his IOC press conference remarks, Baumann briefly described LA2024's "excellent proposal" while citing the bid's innovative "two-ceremonies" plan which would double the seating capacity for the opening and closing of 2024's Games by filling Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the new LA Rams' stadium set to open in 2019.

At the LA2024 press conference held courtside (with the mayor and Wasserman standing on the LA Lakers' free throw line) "the boys" described many aspects of the day's Q&A and anticipation of Thursday's venue visits for the IOC. Several reporters asked questions that were on my brain (see here and here for a few responses) while I asked about how the bid might serve as a reboot for the Cultural Olympiad (the mayor responded on point, describing involvement of Getty Trust leadership rallying the arts community for programs spanning several Southern California museums and arts organizations. 

LA2024 capped the evening with a media night in the BMW box at LA Dodgers Stadium (great fun). In the suite, fellow-Atlantan Stan Kasten -- a former client of sorts (in his leadership role for the Atlanta Braves, Hawks and Thrashers, we worked on a few photo opps with him to open Philips Arena in 1999) -- showed up to say hello.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Surf's Up for New LA2024 Olympic Bid Pins

On the home stretch to Rio 2016, Olympic pin collectors may anticipate a wave of board-shaped pins designed in homage to the city's surfing culture. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Olympic Committee released a series of longboard pins inspired by Rio surfing culture.

In the set, each pin matches an actual surf board created for a sponsor appreciation display planned at USA House.

On the Olympic bid pin front, so far only one or two generic logo designs emerged from Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome, and there are some pins out there for the defunct Boston 2024 organization.

Until now.

At last night's 20th anniversary celebration for Atlanta's 1996 Games -- held in Centennial Olympic park with a stage for prepared remarks by several Games-related leaders -- LA24 Chairman Casey Wasserman decided the time was right for taking the drop, delivering the first boxed-set of new surfboard-shaped Olympic bid pins.

The lucky recipient? Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games CEO turned Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne. 

Wasserman handed the gift box of four surfboard pins while encouraging Payne and the crowd of thousands to "Follow the Sun" (LA24's bid theme) in support of America's next Olympiad.

On stage Payne thanked Wasserman, stating he appreciated the surfing tutorial as, at least during Payne's first glance, the pins' shape was not as self-explanatory as intended. 

Standing in the photo pit at the conclusion of the event, I asked Payne for a peek at the boxed set, which he held up for a photo. It was fun to inspect the new pin treasures -- Payne would not let the box out of his hand, so he must have considered them "keepers."

I'm no surfing guru, but upon inspecting the designs, each of the four pins appear to be wider than the longboard surfing pins the USOC previously released -- more in the shape of Payne's or my thumbprints. 

To me, the LA24 Olympic bid pins are more like wakeboards, perhaps to provide a wider space for the LA24 angel logo and the Olympic rings. 

I consulted some surfboard infographics and the aptly-titled "Riptionary" of surfing lingo, but found no surfboard shape exactly matched.

But who cares? These pins are gorgeous!

Each of the pins would certainly stand out upon a sport coat lapel or as a broach adorning a blouse. From left to right, the designs are:

• Soaring palm trees, like visitors might enjoy while driving through Beverly Hills

• Silhouetted cresting wave reminiscent of Malibu at sunset

• Barrel wave encircling the "angel" logo at the wrong angle for a body-surfing stance

• Sunrise over the San Gabriel Mountains and LA skyline

A possible fifth pin -- sans logos or rings -- appears to be a white cloisonné plaque on which "Follow The Sun" is painted in purple enamel. The cardboard presentation box also features colors from the bid palette.

I asked the LA24 media relations team to confirm the quantity and potential availability of the new bid pin sets and so far this was their response.

"Pins are a limited set, no plans for now on wider distribution."

My guess is the pins may be a special VIP gift for visitors to USA House in Rio, where LA24 will have a special display or other "to be unveiled" elements.

With known quantities historically a factor for bid pin collectors, I'll keep an open eye and ear for details. A boxed set of LA24 surfboard pins is now in the top five most-sought designs to add to my personal Olympic bid pin collection.

Until such time, wishing everyone some glorious and smooth tube riding to the Games of the XXXIst Olympiad, and happy pin collecting to all. 

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

USOC Announces America's 2024 Olympic Bid City

Team USA just added a new chapter to the evolving book of L.A. stories by officially naming Los Angeles the U.S. Olympic Committee entry into the 2024 Olympic bid process.

Replacing Boston just two weeks after scrapping a Bean Town bid, USOC officials joined a beaming LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and several Olympians at an afternoon press conference emcee'd by Al Michaels in the Annenberg Community Beach House on Santa Monica Beach. 

I caught the latter half of the press conference online, then dialed-in to a media Q&A, informing several perspectives on the news of the day.

An impressive element of the announcement was that many official participants stayed on message proclaiming #LA2024 is "America's bid city" for Olympic hosting honors. Olympic champion Janet Evans rallied fellow Olympians and other press event participants stating the bid enjoys 80 percent thumbs up approval, but it will take more than Angelinos' local support to win.

"If we are going to win these Games we need every American behind this bid," said Evans. "[This is the start of] a national campaign and a national celebration." 

This message of national unity is appropriate and something that was, in retrospect, buried or never part of earlier bid news. 

During the media Q&A call, USOC Chairman Larry Probst expressed gratitude while acknowledging stumbling out of the bid city gates with Boston.

"[We are] incredibly grateful to have a partner in Los Angeles," said Probst. "We did not take the most direct route to get here today ... [a day of] excitement, enthusiasm and hope. I think we are going to make L.A. and the Olympic Movement better (through this bid)."

Other key messages resonated with this blogger. Garcetti described his city as the nation's "most connected city" and a "global city of diversity ... ready to compete globally" to which other officials explained LA's unique ability to help athletes of the world "feel at home and enjoy a home field advantage" no matter their nationality. 

Press materials also strike a positive and future leaning tone stating the bid and the city's connectivity will engage "the next generation of global youth" in new ways. The City Council's unanimous (15-0) vote in support of the LA bid is another feather in the new cap for #LA2024.

As a public relations executive I was dying to ask which agencies or other communications professionals are already on board with the LA bid committee. I also want to know definitively whether San Francisco and Washington, D.C., also tried to reel in USOC attention after the Boston debacle. It would also be interesting and timely to find out how many jobs may become available through the bid committee featuring Casey Wasserman at the helm and a former political strategist who resigned his Mayor's office post to join the bid. 

I am genuinely energized by the LA24 and Team USA bid -- it is such a relief to feel the organizers have their stuff together, a vibe never felt at any stage of the Boston 2024 effort. 

It also was cool to hear an LA city official express gratitude for the bid committee's "courage moving the city in an Olympic direction" (a sentiment never felt in Massachusetts) and astonishment that they "got it done in two weeks" during which they reigned in community support. 

Confidence also reigned on the media call. When veteran Olympic reporter Philip Hersh asked if LA would pursue a 2028 bid if locked out for 2024 (New York 2012 and Chicago 2016 did not repeat bids after one loss each), officials quickly and energetically responded "we are in this to win" and "ready to win again" (after hosting in 1932 and 1984) with no interest in discussing an alternative ending to a victorious 2024 bid game.

With confirmed competition from Budapest, Hamburg, Paris and Rome -- and a possible Toronto bid also TBD -- Los Angeles has some hard work to complete before the IOC vote in Lima, Peru, two summers from now. 

LA's initial budget and fiscally-responsible approach may resonate. 

There is one communications-related Achilles' heel not yet tested through today's media Q&A: Disclosures. Boston's bid team shot off one foot then the other by failing on the public disclosures front. I hope there won't prove to be a "Gotcha!" moment for LA24 in this regard. I'm still dying to know what other lessons learned the Los Angeles team noted and learned from in the last several months, and time may reveal their key takeaways. 

"Convincing IOC members that LA is the place to be ... is now our mission," one official stated. 

Images via #LA2024 and BigSkyline.com

A Tale Of Four Cities

Later today at the Denver airport, the U.S. Olympic Committee will select Boston, D.C., L.A. or San Francisco as the nation's 2024 summer Olympic bid candidate city.

Though I like the many merits of each market and their bid committee efforts to date, and it excites me the USA will enter the race, I also see bigger Achilles' heels for two of the four bidders.

San Francisco's 2008 treatment of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay -- during which the city was seemingly shut down by vocal anti-Games demonstrations -- should itself be a major red flag to the U.S.O.C. selection team. Who wants to go see an Oscar winner in a theatre full of screaming infants? Choosing SFO seems the most doomed from the start, and as much as I'd like to experience the Games near the Golden Gate, the timing does not seem right.

I also perceive Boston as a long-shot. Though the city worked on previous bids, and the area's sports legacy is solid, I just don't see Boston as resonating with I.O.C. members. Like Chicago, Boston has a lot of name recognition stateside but may be less-known outside the USA.

Which brings us to Los Angeles (a two-time host in 1932 and 1984) and the District of Columbia.

Love both cities. Love their plans. I also love trying new things and think the USOC may feel that way, too, by placing more faith in a Washington bid.

My friends in each city share universal concerns that past U.S. bid cities faced: Won't the traffic get only worse? Do we want to suffer and endure an eight- to 10-year buildup period? Other general fears of the unknown.

As proven by most Games cities, traffic seems to clear up miraculously during the Olympics (as many locals head out of town). And as for other concerns, didn't someone once say "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" or similar?

I do think it's a shame that Chicago could not mount a follow-up bid to 2016, but too many people remain scarred by that experience (from my view the Windy City did not get a fair shake since the U.S.O.C. shot itself in the foot with an ill-timed pre-vote launch of an Olympic TV channel that went over like a turd in a punch bowl for many IOC members). Fortunately, the USOC has mended bruised relationships and it is encouraging there is now restored confidence in a 2024 bid.

Looking forward to the big decision and announcements of the next 24 hours.

Images via Newslocker, this site and this site.