US Should Stop Future Olympic Bids

COPENHAGEN -- Eleven shots of tequila were lined up across the bar. The guy paying, a member of Chicago's 2016 Olympics bid committee, assured me that he wouldn't be doing all 11 by himself. It was a night to drown sorrows at the Hard Rock Cafe, an American-based establishment where a saddened and dazed Chicago crew -- routed in the first round, like the Cubs in the playoffs -- had many more questions than answers at tables around a chilly, rainy city.

"How much of this had to do with anti-Americanism?'' asked one.

Plenty, I said. And when another emphasized that Chicago won't be bidding in 2020 and maybe ever again, it occurred to me that the U.S. shouldn't, either -- at least until President Obama has his house in order, until the chaotic U.S. Olympic Committee makes peace with the International Olympic Committee, until America figures out how to politick within the Olympic movement and until America improves its image and softens its relationships with a world that still views the U.S. as an arrogant monster.

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Why devote years of hard work and spend more than $100 million, as Chicago did on its campaign, only to exit the competition in humiliation? It happened to New York four years ago, and now it has happened to the nation's third-largest city, suggesting that there are better ways to allocate time, energy and money. It makes no sense to keep getting whacked by the IOC when the voting members obviously are sending consistent, harsh messages that they don't want the U.S. hosting their Olympic bash. What's the smart solution, then?

Forget 2020. And if the general mood doesn't improve, forget 2024. We will send athletes to the Games, of course, but until further notice, let the IOC delegates shower their friends with Olympiads. That way, America saves billions in staging the Games. That way, America can devote that money to education, welfare and public projects. That way, the president can focus on health care and the economy and Afghanistan and Iran and the other issues sure to pile on his plate. And that way, Oprah Winfrey doesn't have to fly to Denmark and return with nothing but shopping bags.

Know how long it has been since the U.S. lost back-to-back bids for the Summer Games? Thirty-six years, when Los Angeles failed to land the 1980 Olympics after losing out in 1976. Only a revolutionary plan by bid chairman Peter Ueberroth, who rode his enormous Olympic success to the baseball commissioner's seat and future USOC leadership, put America back in the big game in 1984. Since then, our participation only has involved Atlanta, a logistical flop that included a fatal Centennial Park bombing, and Salt Lake City, infamous for under-the-table payoffs to IOC members. If New York and Chicago aren't up to the task, who would be? Cincinnati? As Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said, bidding for the 2020 Games would be geographically foolish anyway.

"It's already in this hemisphere, with Rio, and it would not make sense for an American city to try again in 2020,'' said Daley, who faces unprecedented budget and crime challenges and might be nearing the end of his reign in Chicago. "It's in this hemisphere and they have to move somewhere else."


So, it all adds up to a harsh but necessary conclusion: Stop bidding.

"The United States, within the Olympic movement, hasn't engaged as well as we could have for a long time," said Bob Ctvrtlik, the USOC's vice president of international affairs. "And there's a lot of politics going on. This vote isn't just on the merits."

"The whole thing doesn't make sense other than there has been a stupid bloc vote," Kevan Gosper, the senior IOC member from Australia, told the Associated Press. "To have the president of the United States and his wife personally appear, then this should happen in the first round, is awful and totally undeserving."

When Chicago, city of crooked politics, is out-backroomed in Copenhagen, you know something is amiss. "We did not have the worst bid, not even close,'' said a Chicago bid staffer. True, the plan was efficient and solid, selling an intimate plan of close-together venues on the beautiful summer lakefront. But from the start, it was clear many IOC members liked Rio de Janeiro and that some of those people were voting anti-Chicago early -- opting for less formidable Madrid and Tokyo -- so the Windy City would be knocked out and unable to rally late. When IOC president Jacques Rogge uttered the stunning pronouncement that "The city of Chicago, having obtained the least number of votes, will not participate in the next round,'' it suddenly seemed silly and embarrassing to have sent the Obamas and Oprah to Copenhagen. In fact, it felt just as silly and embarrassing in 2005 to have sent politicians and celebrities to Singapore, where New York's bid was rejected in the second round. The only conclusion: If we aren't savvy politicians, then get out of the IOC's big-stakes card game. Seems Lady Gaga has a better poker face than the people trying to land the bids.

"I hate the fact that these elegant people were here, and then our country was treated that way,'' said IOC member Anita DeFrantz of the U.S., speaking of the president and first lady.

"This is an easy way for countries to express resentment toward us, as a superpower, without suffering any consequences, like having their foreign aid cut off or their weapons programs cut off," Doug Logan, CEO of USA Track and Field, told USA Today. "It's an easy way for them to express a great amount of displeasure."

Obama is taking much of the blame back home, as he should after willingly sticking his neck into the fray. Somewhat surprisingly, he was conciliatory upon returning to Washington. "You can play a great game and still not win,'' said the president, who called Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from Air Force One and congratulated him. "Although I wish that we had come back with better news from Copenhagen, I could not be prouder. I have no doubt that it was the strongest bid possible and I'm proud that I was able to come in and help make that case in person.'' I'd have preferred more candor from Obama in regard to what really happened, a promise that he and the USOC and everyone else involved either will have their stuff together next time -- or there will be no next time.

The president should think long and hard about a question posed by an IOC member from Pakistan, Syed Shadid Ali, who spoke of the difficulties faced by foreigners trying to enter the U.S. since 9/11. "We can go through a rather harrowing experience,'' Ali said. Obama jumped in during the presentation and answered with dignity.

"One of the legacies I want to see coming out of the Chicago 2016 hosting of the Games is a reminder that America at its best is open to the world,'' he said. "And, as has already been indicated, we are putting the full force of the White House and the State Department to make sure that ... visitors from all around the world feel welcome and will come away with a sense of the incredible diversity of the American people. This (IOC meeting) could be a meeting in Chicago because we look like the world. And I think that over the last several years, sometimes that fundamental truth about the United States has been lost."

That would be a shot at the Bush administration. But what the first-round loss shows is that Obama has plenty of work before beginning to cure the Bush hangover. We should point out that no president would have successfully lobbied for the Games with the USOC in such disarray. The committee has tussled with the IOC over revenue sharing and angered the Rogge clan with an attempt to launch an Olympics TV network. When Jim Scherr abruptly resigned as chairman earlier this year, it was seen as terrible timing for Chicago and a sign that the USOC was out of control. The appointment of Stephanie Streeter as his interim successor didn't help because of her lack of Olympic-related experience. It's why Probst pleaded during the Chicago presentation that he longs to "create a legacy in which the USOC serves the Olympic movement as a vital and trusted partner."

The trust isn't there, though. Will it ever be? For a three-year period at the start of the decade, the USOC had six presidents and CEOs. Internationally, no one knows who's running the ship.

So Chicago is a loser again, as it often is in sports, a shocking victim of politics and naivety for a town known as a rugged political player. The good people will go back to their pro sports teams, the heart and blood of the city, but this defeat hurts more than most because the world has spoken. Chicago seems eternally destined for a Second City existence, with the Olympic loss only feeding its ingrained inferiority complex. Ever see a city so large and spectacular need so many esteem-boosting pep rallies? "Chicago was a world-class city before [the Olympic] decision, and Chicago will be a world-class city tomorrow,'' Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley said. "Although disappointment hangs in the air, this is not the time for regret, but rather to see opportunity in the incredible work that was done across Chicago over the past months.''

Not everyone in the city is bummed. No Games Chicago, a group that has opposed the Games, is thrilled. "No Games Chicago thinks this is a very good decision for the people of Chicago. But what happens now?'' said a statement on its Web site. "The mayor has been quoted as saying he has 'nothing up his sleeve' with regard to economic development for the future of the city. Representatives of the 2016 committee said on many occasions at public meetings that this was THE plan for jobs and prosperity for our future. There appears to be no Plan B.''

Mostly, though, there is confusion and dismay. Said the Rev. Jesse Jackson: "We sent our A-Team: the president, his wife, Oprah Winfrey, the Olympic athletes, the mayor. We sent our A-Team. It will be interesting to know what happened."

What happened was this: Chicago got Chicagoed, just as New York got New Yorked. Like anyone else who has been jobbed and duped, it's time to walk away from an unwinnable game and take a long breather.