IOC Tour to Include Umbrellas

Weather may not cooperate, but the tour must go on

By PHIL ROGERS

Updated 3:58 PM CST, Tue, Jul 21, 2009

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Hopes for a wet winter in San Diego are rapidly drying up.

Getty Images/Peter Macdiarmid

The flags are flying...the streets are repaved...every single venue has been raked and preened.

And the weatherman says it's going to rain and snow.

"They have umbrellas and warm coats," joked Chicago 2016's Doug Arnot. But the venue tour is important, and the organizing committee had planned to have athletes practicing their craft at every location.

Still, the Chicago team says their first day went well, a day which featured razzle-dazzle animations of the proposed venues and the Olympic Village, along with a video greeting from the man who may be Chicago's trump card: President Obama.

In his message, taped in front of a fireplace in the White House, the President stressed Chicago's multi-cultural history, and diverse population.

"Chicago is that most American of American cities," Obama said.

He reminded commission members that this is his adopted home town, and the city where the First Lady spent her childhood. He noted that he and his wife had raised their daughters, "just blocks from where these games will be held."

"In Chicago, we recognize though we come from vastly different stories, we are one people. After your visit, once you discover the Chicago I know ... I am confident you will discover you are already in the perfect host city."

Early Saturday morning, reporters were ushered on a quick walk-through of the presentation areas at the Sheraton Hotel, which will be ground zero of the Olympic effort for the next four days.

The route in passes by a "green room" where presenters stand-by for their moment before the committee. Then there is a "speaker ready room". The strains of "My Kind of Town", wafted from the sound system.

The actual presentation area has all the refinements of a high-tech U.N. meeting. Sitting in a semi-circle on the right side of the room is the Chicago 2016 team, flanked by their colleagues from the United States Olympic Committee. Behind them, a giant screen covering the wall projects images of the Chicago bid.

Opposite the Chicago team, the members of the IOC Evaluation Commission sit in a similar semi-circle with their staff. Below them, a glowing red digital clock faces the Chicago presenters, ticking away the time of each presentation. The room is lit in the soft gold and orange tones which are the predominant colors of the Chicago bid.

After the welcomes, which included not only the President but also Mayor Daley and 2016 chief Patrick Ryan, the official presentations began. The first concerned the "vision, legacy, and concept" of the Chicago bid. Next came briefings on the Chicago venue plan, the proposed Olympic Village, hotel accommodations, transportation, and the city's weather.

Chicago planners have stressed for months that their venues would be largely temporary, not wanting to leave any "white elephants" which would be expensive to build, and see little use after the Games are over.

"You know, an architectural icon that is underutilized post-games, really isn't much of a legacy," said Arnot. "And is not really a legacy for the games."

During the presentations, the 2016 team showed off a glitzy new video, which depicted the proposed Olympic Village. "The village experience that we're proposing, is off the charts for the athletes," said Olympian Bob Berland. "Here we are looking at literally 15 minutes or less to your competition and training sites!"

Several former Olympic athletes stressed the importance of proximity, not only to competition venues, but to practice areas, and to the hotels where family members and loved ones would be staying.

"These are all things that emphasize quality of life, for the athletes," Berland said.

The Village would be located on the site currently occupied by Michael Reese Hospital. It would run from 26th to 31st street, with a new bridge running across Lake Shore Drive to a private beach and park constructed specifically for the athletes. 2016 officials expressed confidence they could provide adequate security to both the Village and the bridge, without closing the Drive.

"The threats that would be presented to the Village or to the bridge, our security team feels they can be mitigated," said Arnot. He said the Drive would have Olympic lanes, and that trucks, which would pose the greatest threat, would be banned from both the north and southbound lanes.

Officials said the bike path along the lakefront would most likely have to be closed, but the duration of those closings and the exact locations are still being determined.

"There will be some restrictions," he said, "But the level of restrictions has not been determined at this time."

Arnot said a new agency has been formed, known as COPSC, the Chicago Olympic Public Safety Command. It features various law enforcement agencies, from the Chicago Police to the Secret Service. And Arnot said for more than 2 years they have been formulating the 2016 security plan.