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Chicago Is Finalist For 2016 Summer Games

The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 5, 2008

ATHENS, Greece - Getting to the final phase was one thing. Now, Chicago has some hard work ahead to overcome weaknesses in its bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Chicago was one of four cities selected as bid finalists Wednesday, along with Tokyo; Madrid, Spain, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The lineup sets up a high-profile contest featuring major cities from the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Failing to make the International Olympic Committee shortlist were three cities - Doha, Qatar; Prague, Czech Republic; and Baku, Azerbaijan.

The IOC said Doha had the potential to host the Olympics and even rated the Qatari capital tied for third with Chicago in its technical assessment. But the IOC said it turned back Doha because it proposed holding the games in October.

The finalists now advance to a 16-month race that will culminate on Oct. 2, 2009, with a secret ballot by the full IOC at its session in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"It's a very competitive field," said Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who is trying to bring the Summer Olympics back to the United States for the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Games. "The competition begins now."

Chicago got a strong dose of reality in the IOC's report assessing the technical bids, which cited problems with finances and transportation, among other things.

"We really respect the experts who have done the evaluation," Chicago bid leader Patrick Ryan said. "We're going to learn from that. We're going to respect it and we're not going to alibi to ourselves about it. We're going to do everything we can to correct all the deficiencies."

Tokyo scored highest in the technical evaluation, which rated cities in 11 categories - including infrastructure, venues, transportation, security and finances.

Chicago didn't rank first in any of the categories, and lagged to fifth in three. The early ranking is not crucial, however. When the IOC picked the finalists for the 2012 Olympics in 2004, London was ranked third but was awarded the games in '05.

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