POSTED: Sunday September 27th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Decision Friday- The 2016 Olympic Host City Announcement

A column by from Mike Moran with his own opinions and musings devoted to all things in Sports in our town and around the area, and the “buzz” for everything from the Olympic athlete to the Weekend Warrior.

September 27, 2009, #31  

 

Friday
morning at 10:30 a.m. Colorado Springs time,
there will be a big audience of our
town’s residents glued to a television set or the internet with a sense of
anticipation and emotion not unlike watching the Power Ball results with a pot
of millions……….that’s the time for the International Olympic Committee’s
decision among Chicago, Rio, Madrid and Tokyo for the distinction of staging the
2016 Olympic Games…….the suspense is intense, and the coverage this week will be
staggering…..already in Chicago, both newspapers are tasking their columnists
for something special from every angle –sports, society, business, gossip and
punditry, with one theme about who will be on the Chicago 2016 charter plane and
who sits where………its Mayor jetted off for Copenhagen with reporters shouting at
him about costs, inside deals for cronies and all the usual stuff you get with
Chicago politics, and Hizzonor ripping the media for damaging the bid by writing
about it………the reward is huge, but particularly for one
group of Colorado Springs homeowners, the National Governing Bodies
of Olympic sports with their national headquarters here
in the city……….NGB leaders like Skip Gilbert (USA Triathlon), Rich
Bender (USA Wrestling), Chuck Wielgus (USA Swimming), Rick Adams (USA
Weightlifting), David Askinas (USA Taekwondo), Doug Beal (USA Volleyball),
Denise Parker (USA Archery), Dan Cloppas (USA Badminton), Jim Tooley (USA
Basketball), Jose Rodriguez (USA Judo), Mike Cavanaugh (USA Table Tennis), Steve
Johnson (USA Cycling), Kurt Aichele (USA Fencing), Sheila Walker (USA Field
Hockey), and Robert Mitchell (USA Shooting)……….these talented, passionate and
committed professionals are charged with the task of developing and nurturing
American athletes for the Olympic Games, Pan American Games, World
Championships, World Cups and scores of events, along with the grassroots
programs for their sports and the compelling task of bringing kids into their
sports with tremendous financial limitations and resources…….their budgets are
all over the grid, with some needing only basic United States Olympic Committee
funding and grants, others dependent on the USOC to sustain their
existence…..they operate under the radar for the most part, then complete the
cycle by presenting (or renting) their elite athletes to the USOC as members of
the Olympic Team every four years…..they are restricted from the luxury of being
able to use the golden Olympic Rings and terminology in their marketing and fund
raising efforts despite the fact that their athletes are the ones who become
Olympians……and they have steadily lost voice and representation on the USOC
Board of Directors in the constant realignment of the body over three
decades…….for them, the 2016 Olympic decision is particularly meaningful in a
host of areas…….a Chicago triumph means exposure for their
sport, the value of the sponsorship they are dependent on for their
National Teams, their pre-Olympic marketing, their USOC special grants to
develop their elite athletes for an American Games, and the Pied Piper
effect that always goes with a Games in an American city…..the constant
coverage, marketing and advertising and national exposure that will end up
attracting thousands of American kids into their sports after seeing it on
television during the Games…..the tremendous upsurge in new athletes of all ages
that came with Gymnastics and Volleyball after the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the
thrilling parade of young American girls into Softball and Soccer after the 1996
Atlanta Games, and yes, for young girls in Ice Hockey after the amazing gold
medal triumph by the 1998 Olympic Women’s team in Nagano, too……..you can’t tally
the value of an American Games for these men and women……..watching the
tube Friday morning as well will be the three hundred or so staff of the United
States Olympic Committee here in town who have the
loving task of setting the table for our Olympic and Paralympic athletes in
concert with the NGBs…..these passionate men and women live and breathe the
dreams of these athletes every day, from training, feeding, and housing them at
our Olympic Training Center….......they
devote themselves unselfishly to the needs of the athletes and their families,
and then have to read and hear the sorry stuff in the local news media and
opinion pages about their organization’s “greed” and self-serving action related
to the complicated effort by the city and the business community to retain the
USOC’s national headquarters here……..they commit countless time, energy and
hours to the community, its programs for the needy and kids in sport, and to the
simple task of raising their families in Colorado Springs and giving back to the
community….…….it’s these groups, the
NGBs, the USOC, US Paralympics and the thousands of athletes who chase their
dreams here who count, and who will be glued to the news on Friday morning……….I
land in Chicago O’Hare airport right about the time of the announcement Friday, on my way to my annual autumn date with
Kennebunkport, Maine, my cherished
second home……….I will be thinking of all
these special men and women and what a Chicago triumph would mean to
them.

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Keywords · Mike Moran · Chicago 2016 · Olympic bids · USOC

Name: Mike Moran
Organization: Colorado Springs Sports Corporation
Email:
Phone: 719-634-7333, ext. 1011
URL: http://www.thesportscorp.org

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