Jul 15, 2007 10:26 pm US/Central
Mayor Daley Wraps Up Rio Trip
Chicago Group Toured Several Pan Ams Venues And Took Note Of The Infrastructure Required To Put On The Olympic Games
by Jay Levine
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CBS) ―
Mayor Daley's trip to Rio has wrapped up. But earlier, his delegation spent some time with a lot of potential supporters who could be key players in bringing the Olympics to Chicago,.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent reports from Rio de Janeiro where Mayor Richard M. Daley and members of the U.S. Olympic Committee as they get a firsthand look at the competition.
The final official function for the Chicagoans was a two-hour breakfast with the U.S. ambassador to Brazil. The conversation focused mainly on the 2016 Olympic bid.
The ambassador traveled to Brazil with intense security, tempting observers who also see police at every hotel and on virtually every corner to give Chicagoans an edge, if at some time the field will come down to Chicago and Rio. Others say just hold on.
"First of all, you don't want to be a frontrunner in this race," said Bob Ctvrtlik, vice president of the USOC. "It seems that then you have four or five cities that are gunning at you."
It was hard for Daley to estimate how many Illinois Olympic Committee voters he met while on the trip. Olympic CEO Pat Ryan said about 15, but added the trip is a part of a building process.
"It's an interim process," he said. "We met some people for the first time, we re-met people. There's a building, growing relationship here."
Sitting in the opening ceremonies and watching some of the competition, Maggie Daley said she can picture doing the same thing in Chicago in 2016.
"We're all going to work to do the best we can to make that happen," she said.
"The focus for Chicago is learning maybe how to rework their plan," said Ctvrtlik.
Daley and Ryan are already talking about that.
"We really nee dto make sure that we got the ability to organize and properly serve the vast constituencies that will be here and transportation is critical," said Ryan.
After one final helicopter tour of the sports venues and beaches, Daley and Ryan head back to Chicago. Their concerns for transportation are most certainly to be conveyed as soon as they arrive home on Monday.
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