Senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member for the United States, Anita DeFrantz, discussed Chicago’s failed bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games while in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
The DePaulia reports DeFrantz said, “there was nothing wrong with the bid. It was about (in my opinion), the situation of having a competitor that had a compelling reason for hosting the Games”.
She added, “Chicago did an extraordinary job with their bid…In the meantime, the IOC members are participating in a notion that we can help the world through the Games, that it would be better to go to a part of the world where the Games have never been hosted”.
USOC Chairman Larry Probst said that the mistakes made in Chicago’s 2016 bid has been a prevalent topic in discussions with the IOC as the Games began in Vancouver. He said, “we’ve had a lot of discussion around that. That’s the topic of a lot of conversations that are taking place here in Vancouver as we interact with IOC members and get their feedback and (their) perspective and (their) input so that we can be more knowledgeable and smarter about (it) the next time around. We continue to gather information and get feedback and get input from people. We’ve had multiple discussions internally about what went right and what went wrong”.
DeFrantz said the IOC decision was a “great” surprise, adding, “when it was announced around the room, there was an audible sound made. It’s commonly known that the U.S. can host the Games and do a good job, so there was nothing wrong with the bid”.
But Probst said there are a few benchmarks to pass before the U.S. successfully bids for the Games, reports The DePaulia. He said, “we need to fix some things with our relationship with the IOC. We’re hard at work doing that and we hope we can make a significant progress on that in a relatively short period of time. We’ll decide at some point and time when we’re ready for the next bid”.
