From Inside the Games:The quote in the Washington post was even more forceful:
"I don't want to be bidding in a contest where their desire is go somewhere else."
Blackmun, who has been in his new role only three weeks, has been busy meeting IOC officials here but claims he has not received any indication yet that the USOC should put forward a candidate for the 2020 Olympics, which are due to be awarded at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in 2013.
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"...The cold and hard reality is Chicago spent approximately $80 million on its bid," Blackmun said. "It's going to be difficult to get U.S. cities to continue to invest to that level unless they think they have a realistic chance of winning. The [International Olympic Committee] sent us a message, loud and clear, that they don't want the Games to be in the United States. ..."
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His rant was for all ears to hear and it comes during a very successful Winter Games in Vancouver where American media has made the these games more watched, more appreciated, and more profitable than Torino. The next Winter Games will be in Sochi, Russia.
Perhaps the IOC should step back, take a deep breath, and confront the fact that after 2012 London games the next two Olympic games will both be held in emerging economies: Russia in 2014 and Brazil in 2016.
Note that the Russian Ruble is not a transferable currency ad I can't imagine how that is not going to cause problems.
In other words, I think the IOC taking a big gamble by alienating the USA
3 comments:
You might want to do some research about what really happened at least year's bid. The USOC alienated the IOC before the IOC alienated us by not doing the work and building relationships to show that they were serious. They just showed up with the Obamas and expected more than was warranted. There were apparently multiple meetings set up before the official bid and all the other contenders sent representatives except the US. The massive bomb and embarrassment of getting so few votes was a surprise to NO ONE except egocentric, blind Americans. And I'm American. The USOC has for years been an organization with weak leadership and they've been criticized for it. Maybe Blackmun will be a better leader, but the way he described the recent fiasco is completely inaccurate. The IOC wasn't sending a message about not ever wanting the US to have the Olympics. They were sending a message about being better prepared, respecting the rest of the world, and respecting the IOC itself.
Please send me links if you can. I did do the research and the only hostile endeavor I could find on the part of the USOC was them trying to get a cable network off the ground.
The next issues I found was that the IOC board members were not happy with the immigration policies nor the wars we were involved in.
I accept your criticism that Americans tend to be myopic about anything outside their borders but I found no reference regarding the USOC standing up the IOC.
I personally did not want Chicago to get the Olympics since they wanted to do it on the cheap.
The crux of my post is that the IOC better look to more affluent countries, perhaps Singapore, Japan and even the United States in the 2020s since the next two Olympics post London won't be as profitable as Beijing, Vancouver and most likely Londao?
I'm going to stay out of this one... but I can say it looks like the USOC is starting to make better decisions. :)
http://www.goswim.tv/entries/5890/dave-denniston-named-paralympic-swimming-coach.html
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