POSTED: Sunday April 5th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MICHAEL JORDAN TO WELCOME IOC EVALUATION COMMISSION TO UNITED CENTER IN VIDEO MESSAGE

Basketball great to address IOC Evaluation Commission at the proposed competition venue for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games

CHICAGO (April 5, 2009)—Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission will be greeted today at the United Center with a video recorded by basketball legend Michael Jordan.  The Evaluation Commission will visit the United Center as part of a venue tour to assess the city’s technical plan to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  The United Center would host basketball, artistic and trampoline gymnastics and handball competitions.

In the 40 second video, to be played from the court’s jumbotron, Jordan will welcome the IOC Evaluation Commission to Chicago.  In the video, he voiced his excitement and support for the city’s Olympic and Paralympic Games bid, thanking the guests for their consideration of Chicago, a city he “fell in love with 25 years ago.”  Jordan also said he wished he was able to be there in person.  He had a prior engagement as he was nominated to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame today.   

Jordan is a two-time gold medalist with the USA basketball team during the 1984 and 1992 Olympic Games.  His team during the 1992 Games in Barcelona was famously dubbed the “Dream Team”, and included basketball greats Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and David Robinson.  Their Olympic gold gained immediate international notoriety, restoring U.S. basketball to its former glory.  Jordan played twelve seasons on the Chicago Bulls, leading the team to six NBA championships.

“Michael Jordan is a dynamic supporter of Chicago’s bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Patrick G. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Chicago 2016.  “His athletic accomplishments and inspiration to youth have reverberated around the world, and he has a great connection to the city of Chicago where he flourished in his professional basketball career.  Chicago 2016 is thrilled to have his support as a bid ambassador for the Games.”

The IOC Evaluation Commission will be in Chicago until April 8.  IOC members and subject matter experts will be in town to review all aspects of Chicago’s bid and to experience the city firsthand.  The experience of Evaluation Commission members while in the city is a vital component of the Olympic bid process, as the inspection is used to issue a technical report to IOC members in September, one month before the election of the 2016 Host City on October 2, 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Michael Jordan’s video greeting to the IOC Evaluation Commission can be downloaded at:

http://badertv.com/chicago2016/

Username: Chicago

Password: news

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Keywords · Michael Jordan · Chicago 2016 · olympic bid

Name: Mica Matsoff
Organization: Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid
Email:
Phone: 1.312.861.4826
URL: http://www.chicago2016.org/

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