The competition pool for a Chicago Olympics would last about as long as a swimming world record does these days.
Chicago 2016 organizers unveiled several venue changes Friday that they say will benefit athletes and the community, and make their bid more attractive in the highly competitive international field. In addition to moving the aquatic center and making the competition pool a temporary facility, the sailing, canoe/kayaking, track cycling and BMX cycling venues all will be moved under Chicago’s retooled bid plan.
“We worked very closely with international sports federations and national governing bodies,” said Doug Arnot, Chicago 2016′s operations chief. “This plan is better for sport, better for the games and, perhaps most importantly, better for Chicago’s youth sports legacy. This plan remains very financially responsible.”
The changes will add about 5% to the budget, which remains at $4.7 billion, Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan said. That’s a bargain compared with other Summer Games; London estimates its overall costs for the 2012 Olympics will be about $16.5 billion, three times the original estimate.
Chicago is bidding against Tokyo; Madrid, Spain; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Games, which would be the first Summer Olympics in the United States in 20 years. Chicago is touting a compact bid, with 90% of athletes within 15 minutes of their competition sites and most venues clustered along the scenic downtown lakefront.
Organizers have spent the last 18 months soliciting input on their bid plan, as well as looking to ensure the city is left with a usable legacy — instead of those white elephants so many Olympic cities find themselves stuck with.
A permanent pool, for example, would seat about 20,000. Many cities struggle to find a suitable use for a facility that size after the games, and wind up having to shrink it.
“We decided to start the other way,” Arnot said. “Start with the facility already shrunk, for the warm-up pool, and use the competition pool as the temporary (venue).”
The warm-up pool, a permanent venue, will be adjacent to the competition pool and the two will be separated by a deck, much like they were in Beijing. There also will be a separate diving well and a pool for water polo. All temporary pools will be moved to other Chicago parks after the games.
Temporary pools have been a success at other high-profile events, including the last two U.S. Olympic trials. Michael Phelps even set world records in the 200 and 400 individual medleys at this summer’s trials in Omaha
The aquatic center site also has changed. It now will be in Washington Park, near the Olympic Stadium, instead of in Douglas Park.
“This will bring Washington Park alive in the days between the opening ceremony and track,” Arnot said.
The move also allows room in Douglas Park for a velodrome that will host track and BMX cycling. The velodrome will be converted to a multi-use facility after the games. Northerly Island, a former airport with picturesque views of the Chicago skyline, will now host canoe/kayaking and sailing, as well as beach volleyball.
“We spent a great deal of time balancing input and insight from a great deal of sources, balancing what’s good for the Olympic movement and what’s good for our city,” Ryan said. “We feel our enhanced plan provides us with an even more compelling proposal, and strongly enhances our legacy.”
The International Olympic Committee will pick the host city next October at a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ryan also said the current economic crisis has forced the bid committee to adjust its surplus estimate to $500 million, down from $725 million. The additional $225 million was expected to come from the sale of the Olympic village to a real estate developer, who would convert the village to mixed-use housing after the games.
Because the real estate market is so slow, Ryan said the committee isn’t comfortable predicting any profit.
“Do we really believe we won’t get anything? We hope and expect it will improve, but we don’t think it’s prudent or fiscally responsible to say, ‘In spite of the fact that things are as terrible as they are in real estate markets all around the world, that we believe optimistically that we’ll be able to do this,”‘ Ryan said.
That doesn’t mean Chicago taxpayers will be on the hook, though, Ryan stressed. The city has guaranteed up to $500 million if the Olympic Games’ operating budget lost money.
“We still have a cushion of a half a billion dollars,” Ryan said.
Ryan also said he doesn’t expect Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s arrest on seamy corruption charges to affect Chicago’s bid. Blagojevich was accused Tuesday of putting President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat up for sale and shaking down the owners of the Chicago Tribune.
“It’s a sad day for Illinois, there’s no denying that,” Ryan said. “(But) the governor has not been involved in our bid, to speak of, at all. … We don’t believe that that will negatively impact the bid.”
source: usatoday.com
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