The dust is barely settling on the Beijing Olympics, but the race for 2016 is heating up. Leaders from all four bid cities — Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo — provided some details and many talking points Saturday at a panel discussion staged by “Around The Rings,” the Olympics newsletter.

Out of the relatively benign presentation came some tidbits of news and a passionate challenge.

The news: Chicago 2016 CEO Patrick Ryan confirmed that he’s gotten assurances from both U.S. presidential candidates that, if elected, they would plan on attending the IOC session in Copenhagen in October 2009 when the vote occurs.

“I do know we have very strong support from each of the candidates for our bid,” Ryan said. “Barring a scheduling crisis, it’s my opinion that each one of them would want to be there and would be there. … We’ll have a new president, and it’s my opinion that that president will want to demonstrate to the world that the United States, represented by Chicago, wants to welcome the world back to the United States.”

Later, Ryan told SBJ’s Olympic Bureau that he had met personally with Sen. Barack Obama, who, of course, lives in Chicago. Other China 2016 reps met with Sen. John McCain, Ryan said.

An Obama victory could have a positive effect on the Chicago Olympic bid, Ryan said.
“Certainly having a Chicagoan in the White House would put a real spotlight globally on the city,” he said. “There’d be a halo effect, I’m sure.”

Meanwhile, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, Rio’s bid chief, was clear what his message is to IOC members: it’s South America’s turn. He noted that the Rio Pan American Games were a success in 2007, proving that Rio can deliver on an Olympics bid.

“In front of the Olympic charter they talk of the universality of the Games. … The Games are for all of the world, for the youth of the world. And the youth of the world are from all continents, including a continent of 400 million people,” he said of South America.

Nuzman said Brazil’s government has guaranteed “everything,” and that financial considerations aren’t a factor.

Mexico, which is in North America, is the only Latin American nation to ever host a Summer Games, in 1968.

Nuzman said Rio’s successful Pan Am Games staging was “a passport, a visa to go ahead with [an Olympic] bid. From the moment that we have organized we proved, I think, it’s the time. … We will open the door for other countries, for African, for the Arabic countries. This is our world.”

USA Track & Field CEO Doug Logan Blogs Bluntly

When Doug Logan was hired as CEO of USA Track & Field last month, there was some head-scratching. He’d been with Major League Soccer and arena management firms. What would he bring to a sport that had to rebrand, reorganize and reinvent itself in the U.S.?

In his first month on the job, Logan has brought a certain public bluntness. When Marion Jones sought a pardon from President Bush, Logan issued an “open letter” to the president urging him not to ease Jones’ jail time.

Soon, Logan began blogging for USATF. On his blog, titled “Shin Splints,” he took on directly the criticism of the U.S. track team for its failure in the 4x100 sprint relays in Beijing.

“I have received emails from people across the country, particularly about the relays,” he wrote. “They all say more or less the same thing: The dropped batons were reflective of a lack of preparation, lack of professionalism, and of leadership. I agree. Dropping a baton isn’t bad luck, it’s bad execution. Responsibility for the relay debacle lies with many people and many groups, from administration to coaches to athletes. That’s why, when these Games are completed, we will conduct a comprehensive review of all our programs. It will include assessments from inside and outside the USATF family, and included in the assessment will be the way in which we select, train and coach our relays. … When the men’s marathon concludes on Sunday, we’ll still be the World’s #1 Team in terms of medal count. We can be a much better team. And we will be.”

The Beijing Games — By The Numbers

204 — Record number of nations participating
132 — Olympic records set
87 — Nations that won medals
80 — Ratings share for the Opening Ceremony in China (What happens to the other 20 percent, you don’t want to know.)
43 — Percent of women competing, the highest ever
43 — World records set
40 — Olympic-bound athletes busted for drug use BEFORE the Games and barred; six have been caught during the Games … so far.
8 — Gold medals for Michael Phelps
3 — Gold medals for Usain Bolt
2 — Batons dropped by the U.S. 4x100 relay teams
First-ever medals for Afghanistan, Mauritius, Tajikistan and Togo; first-ever gold medals for Bahrain, Mongolia and Panama; first individual gold for India

Source: IOC