Jan 09 2009
No 2018 Bid from USOC
The United States Olympic Committee announced that it won’t bid on the 2018 Winter Games. Applications are due in mid-October 2009. A host city will be named in 2011.
The USOC is heavily involved with Chicago’s effort to host the 2016 Summer Games. Chicago is one of the four finalists. Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo are the other finalists.
The International Olympic Committee will choose a host Oct. 2, just before applications to host in 2018 are due. The USOC does not want to divide its efforts between two bids.
The U.S. probably has a better chance of hosting a Summer Games. Atlanta hosted in 1996. Since then, Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) have held Summer Games. London will host the 2012 Games.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Games and the 2010 Games will be in Vancouver. While the 2014 competition has been awarded to Sochi, Russia, it’s not likely North America would be given three of five Winter Games.
Neither Africa nor South America has ever hosted the Olympics. Based on rotation, Rio makes the most sense. Madrid would mark three of four European hosts. Tokyo would make two of three in Asia.
However, Rio scored the lowest of the finalists during preliminary inspections. Tokyo performed the best, followed closely by Madrid. Chicago was third.
i kind of don’t want them coming to Chicago because I live here and that’d be a headache
I also think it’d be a mess for our city and I can only imagine if anything goes wrong, that Chicago would be perceived as a bad place. Great insight, thanks for the update. -kev
Kevin, I remember the 1984 Olympics being in Los Angeles. I thought it was fun to see the Olympic torch being passed a few miles from my house. I became a big Olympics fan that year. I don’t blame you for not wanting the hassle though. The burden has grown a lot on host cities since then. Expect another nine months of hype about the Olympics until a decision is made.