Chicago Area Local News

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― It's take two for Chicago's Olympic logo in the city's bid for the 2016 summer games.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine was at the dramatic unveiling.

A crowd of seventh and eighth graders at Disney Magnet School counted down to a round of applause as a sheet came down to reveal the new logo.

It's a white, six-pointed star surrounded by a vertical band of colors including yellow for energy, red for passion, blue for parks and green for the lake.

In May, the International Olympic Committee said Chicago couldn't use its first design, a torch whose flame represents the city skyline. The IOC said its rules don't allow logos that contain the Olympic symbol, motto, flag or other imagery including a flame, torch or medal.

"This is really taking an evolution from the beacon logo and the key core elements of that and the part of the story we want to tell," said Mark Mitten of Chicago's Olympic committee.

The city's star was a surprise addition with each point representing Chicago and Olympic values and ideals: hope for a better future; respect for the rules, each other and competition; harmony of body mind and soul; friendship without regard to peoples' differences; excellence in competition; and celebration of participating and winning. Those are all values the committee hopes Olympic voters will come to equate with Chicago.

"We talk about the logo, the star within a star. We're gonna show the world that Chicago is a star," Jackie Joyner-Kersee said.

She was one of many Chicago Olympians and paralympians who gathered for the event, featuring Mayor Richard M. Daley and his Olympic chief Pat Ryan, who sees the bid in a larger context.

"It's my dream that the logo we reveal today will become a symbol of hope for our city, our state, our region and our country because Chicago is not only bidding to host a great sporting event, we're bidding to welcome the world back to America," Ryan said.

One problem they won't have with this logo that they had with the other one is that this one was approved by the IOC before it was unveiled.

The new logo was designed by VSA Partners, the same Chicago agency that designed the first logo, and uses the same palette of yellows, oranges and blues.

The new logo will likely be the second of three, because if Chicago is selected as a finalist in June of next year, as expected, it will be allowed to use Olympic symbols.

With the unveiling of its new star centered symbol, Chicago joins two other 2016 hopefuls with logos already released.

Tokyo is going with five Olympic-colored strings tied together in a traditional Japanese knot.

Prague has the year 2016 in green numbers shaped like a laurel branch, the symbol of victory.

Madrid's not yet chosen its logo. Both that city and Doha in the Persian Gulf will reveal their logos next month.

No word yet from Rio de Janeiro or Baku in Azerbaijan.

"I don't think a logo, an Olympic Games has ever been won or lost on the basis of a logo that ever been used in the bid," said Olympics expert Ed Hula of AroundTheRings.com.

More important for Chicago's Olympic planners is preparing for the World Boxing Championships in October.

With Rio already showing it can handle the Pan American Games, Chicago needs a good showing for the many IOC members who will be here next month.

The committee will announce the host city for the 2016 games in October 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)