Apr 5, 2009 9:49 pm US/Central
Chicago Shows Off Possible Olympic Venues
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
There were no cheering crowds Sunday, but with a little imagination, members of the International Olympic Committee pictured what a Chicago Olympics might look like.
CBS 2's Chief Correspondent Jay Levine was along for the ride that provided Chicago facts, flavor, and a pitch to athletes by athletes to the IOC.
Native American dancers, representing Chicago's first residents, greeted commission members at McCormick Place Sunday morning. IOC officials say Mayor Richard Daley and former Olympic diver Greg Louganis met them at the proposed venue.
"We want to show our support, but most important, it's about traditionally welcoming people to our land," said Joe Podlasek of the American Dance Center.
Commissioners are in the midst of a 12-stop, 10-hour day of village and sports venues inside the five mile Olympic ring, with stops to hear Chicagoans like Beijing medal winner Christine Magnuson describe Chicago's plan.
"I tried to show them my excitement and my love for this city and I said you know you're not going to get a better city for food, and athletes love food," Olympic swimmer Magnuson said.
At a museum on the city's South Side near the proposed Olympic Stadium, they also met Bryan Clay, the gold medal winner of the decathlon in Beijing.
CBS 2 was there when the IOC evaluation commission arrived at McCormick Place Sunday, which will be called the Lake Michigan Sports Complex for the games. It will be the site of 11 Olympic sports including gymnastics, volleyball and fencing, in addition to serving as the main press center and broadcast location for the games.
McCormick Place is one of the stops on a 10-hour tour that will cover the north, south and west side sports venues.
At each stop, the commission heard a presentation on what will happen there, giving them a chance to see for themselves the plan they first saw in
Chicago's bid book, and then in the
formal presentation Saturday.
Their first stop Sunday morning was at the site of the proposed Olympic Village, now the mostly shuttered Michael Reese Hospital, which will be a 21-building complex for 16,000 athletes with gardens between buildings, an amphitheater, dining halls and a promenade to a private recreation center and beach right on Lake Michigan. After the games, the village becomes a new south side mixed income neighborhood.
Chicago 2016 organizers used the excursion to drive home a key point of their bid proposal: that Chicago's Olympics would be a compact affair. Sunday's circuit from Monroe Harbor, where some of the rowing events would take place, past Soldier Field (soccer) and on to McCormick Place was designed to drive home that point. By the end of the day, the IOC will have stopped at 12 Olympic sites, including the northernmost venue -- the proposed site of the tennis stadium in Lincoln Park.
"Today is the day we can really show that," said United States Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel. "The significance of today is that it's an opportunity not only to present plans, but to show those plans -- bring them to life."
Later, as the sun peeked briefly through threatening clouds, the delegation visited Washington Park on the South Side, where the main Olympic Stadium would be built. To show the outline of the proposed stadium, 205 volunteers held up flags for each of the Olympic nations around its perimeter.
As the commission went place to place, they heard from those who have and will compete.
Chicagoan Bart Connor, the gold medal gymnast, was featured in one of the videos they saw Saturday.
"We were called very early, and asked 'what do you need?'" Connor said. "Well, the first thing we don't need is to be on buses all the time. I think the purpose of this visit is to assure them that Chicago gets it, understands the complexity of the Olympics."
Husband and wife gymnastic legends Bart Connor and Nadia Comeneci were among those making Chicago's case.
Nadia Comenici was 14-years-old when she stunned the sports world, inspiring a new way to describe perfection. And that's how she explained why Chicago's the one.
"The reason to come to Chicago is it's a perfect 10 city," she said.
That's what Sunday's tour tried to show -- how 90 percent of the athletes would be within 15 minutes of their training or competition sites.
You could still see the city skyline from Washington Park as the commission members arrived, the sun was starting to appear though it was still raining and took some imagination to picture what the summer games would look and feel like here.
The same Kennedy King Prep Band that performed for President Obama's inauguration was here to welcome the commission to the museum named for Chicago's first settler, Jean Baptiste DuSable.
As the commissioners left, just a handful of protestors stood by. Throughout the day, despite the weather, volunteers who shivered on land, and at sea, far outnumbered those who braved the weather to protest -- like the youngsters playing soccer at Soldier Field, when the commission arrived for its briefing on this and other lakefront venues.
In fact, greeting IOC members on the South Side were members of the city council whose wards on that side of the city are largely minority, and who voiced their support for the games and the benefits they would bring to the community.
"Unlike other cities which cleared whole sections so they could build the Olympic village and venues, we're not doing that," said Alderman Toni Preckwinkle.
Further, she said, "There is going to be substantial affordable housing in the residential development that follows the Olympics."
Right now, the commission members are at the United Center, which would host basketball and gymnastics, where they were scheduled to receive a surprise welcome from Michael Jordan.
"I've had some tremendous memories during my professional basketball career, but the memory of standing and representing the United States of America was one of the proudest moments of my lif," Jordan said in a video. "For someone who 25 years ago, fell in love with the City of Chicago, I thank you for your consideration of our wonderful city."
Saturday, President Obama, Sunday, Michael Jordan -- quite a one-two punch.
But the commission merely evaluates bids. It makes no recommendation. And in recent years that evaluation hasn't carried much weight. Like its criticism of Sochi, the Russian candidate for the 2014 winter games.
"They didn't think Sochi should stage the games because they thought it would be challenging for the city," said Duncan McKay of Insidethegames.com. 'So what does the IOC do? They give it to Sochi, so I think the value of the evaluation is quite limited."
Even though Chicago's still pulling out all the stops this week, you really have to view this as a kind of qualifying round. Convince this commission you can do what you're promising. Stay close until the end, then let the best closer in the world right now, Barack Obama, seal the deal this fall.
Now that they've seen the city, IOC officials will get a broad taste of our culture. Monday, they'll be honored at a celebration showcasing the music, art, and museums of Chicago.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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