POSTED: September 24th 2009
Appointments
Obama getting last minute Olympic fever?
LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications
TAMPA: The likelihood of US President Barack Obama attending the IOC session next month to support the Chicago 2016 bid is looking more like a possibility. Leaks to the Olympic press are reporting that the President will make the trip.
White House officials confirm: "The White House sent an advance team to Copenhagen on Monday to preserve the President’s option to travel to the meeting in Copenhagen, but there has not been a final decision made on whether the President will be able to attend."
Following a phone call to IOC President Dr Jacques Rogge, the President had excused himself and confirmed that First Lady Michelle Obama would be representing the White House at the meeting. Obama cited the nation’s need for his attention to be focused on the homeland in the fight for health care reform in the United States.
Valerie Jarrett, White House senior adviser, will be traveling to the IOC session with the First Lady to support the Chicago bid and lobby voting members. The Chicago bid team announced yesterday that Oprah Winfrey will also join the delegation.
CEO Patrick Ryan said, “We are very honored and excited to have Oprah Winfrey travel to Copenhagen. As a member of our community and as someone who understands and demonstrates the value of helping others, she embodies the spirit of so many Chicagoans and is truly an emissary for our bid and for the city of Chicago.”
"I love and believe in Chicago, and I think it would be the perfect Host City for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Winfrey.
Winfrey is well known in English speaking areas for her popular talk show but just how well she is known in far reaching Olympic circles remains to be seen.
Michael Jordan, basketball superstar just inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, has not affirmed his presence for the meeting. Jordan is known throughout the world as the greatest basketballer ever and would make a compelling testimony in front of world sport leaders. A former Chicago Bulls player he has supported the bid with video messages.
The bid team issued a list of elite athletes that are attending the meeting including: Willie Banks, Nadia Comaneci, Donna de Verona, Gary Hall, Jr., April Holmes, Michael Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Keri Walsh.
Chicago is competing with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo for the summer Games of 2016 and the vote is due October 2nd in Copenhagen at the IOC Session.
Keywords · Chicago 2016 · Barack Obama · Oprah Winfrey · Michael Jordan
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