IOC members continue evaluation of Chicago's 2016 Olympics bid
Aaron Geiger
Issue date: 4/8/09 Section: News
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It lasted about 63 seconds, which is how long it took for the 13 members of the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission to file by the band on their way to a briefing inside the DuSable Museum about Chicago's Olympic plans for Washington Park.
It was among the few, brief glimpses of the commission members, designed as photo opportunities for media kept at several arms' lengths from the visitors, who will make no comment until Tuesday afternoon, the last day of their visit. And it will be a surprise if what they say at the lone IOC news conference sheds much more light on their feelings about the Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Games and their experiences during four days that could have a dramatic impact on the city's future.
In the largely opaque and eventual secret-ballot process of choosing an Olympic host city, the candidates stage public displays of affection for the visiting evaluators, like the band performance. But the objects of the affection limit their public reactions to an occasional smile.
While most of the commission members walked resolutely past the musicians toward the museum, Guy Drut of France and Andres Botero of Colombia, who also are IOC members, acknowledged the jazzy reception on a damp, cold and windy day by stopping to take pictures of the band members.
That was a snapshot of Day Two on the official program for the evaluation commission's inspection visit to Chicago.
Hundreds of volunteers, like the band, and just a handful of protesters weathered long waits to greet the commission's members as they spent nearly eight hours touring planned Olympic sports venues, media center and the Olympic Village site in the city. The tour was the most public moment of what Chicago 2016 head Patrick Ryan called the commission's chance to "kick the tires" of this city's bid.
Yet the commission members' impressions and the report they prepare after visiting the other three finalists-Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid-in the next month will be just one factor in the Oct. 2 vote taken by the IOC to choose the 2016 host.
Friendships, geopolitical reasons and the effectiveness of the massive lobbying campaigns each city has engaged in for more than a year will each play a significant role in the outcome.
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