IOC president Jacques Rogge says economic issues shouldn’t drive decision on 2016 host city

Rogge: Economics shudn’t drive 2016 Olympics vote

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Financial considerations should not drive the decision on which city hosts the 2016 Olympics, IOC president Jacques Rogge said Tuesday on the eve of key presentations by the four candidates.

Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo will make pitches to members of the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday in a crucial test before the vote in Copenhagen on Oct. 2.

The cities have been asked to focus on technical details in the closed-door presentations, with budget plans and financial guarantees expected to come under extra scrutiny at a time of global recession.

While Rogge said the IOC will be looking for financial assurances, he and most members believe the moneymaking potential and commercial strength of the various candidates should not be the key issue for selecting the host city.

“Economics should not drive our decision,” Rogge said at the close of a two-day executive board meeting. “Frequently in the past, we did not necessarily go for the richest city and I believe we were right to do that.”

Rogge said the main focus should not be on geopolitical considerations but on finding the best conditions for the athletes.

“Ultimately, it’s not the economics but leaving a sustainable legacy,” he said. “When we leave, we want it to be a bonus for the city, the region and the country.”

As with all U.S. bids, the Olympics in Chicago would not be underwritten by the federal government. For that reason, Chicago officials will talk about their financial guarantees on Wednesday when they face 92 of the 107 IOC members in attendance.

“We’re going to address that,” Chicago bid leader Pat Ryan told The Associated Press. “We’ll be talking about what we call a new model of public-private guarantees. We think that it’s very responsible to what the IOC members want. And we think it’s particularly responsible to today’s times.

“Knowing that this was an issue from the very beginning, we’ve worked very hard to bring a resolution so that IOC members” will be assured there are no financial risks, Ryan said.

He said Chicago’s financial plan will leave no “white elephants’ and will foster a lasting urban and sporting legacy.

“It’s a very responsible and achievable plan,” he said. “We think it’s got some good conservatism built into it.”

Ryan said Chicago and the Midwest also offer the Olympics a strong potential market for new sponsors.

“We think there’s an opportunity to bring sponsors into the Olympic movement that will not only be very important to the 2016 games but also have the opportunity to build a longer relationship with the Olympic movement,” he said.

Chicago will also remind the IOC that the bid has the strong political backing of President Barack Obama.

“I don’t think it’s make-or-break presentation because we have three-plus months to go,” Ryan said, “but it’s clearly a unique opportunity when you can get in front of 90-plus IOC members and have 45 minutes to present your bid and then 45 minutes of questions and answers.”

But not everyone in Chicago is behind the bid.

Three members of the opposition group “No Games Chicago,” which argues the games are bad for cities financially and can displace thousands of people, came to IOC headquarters Tuesday and delivered two boxes of documents detailing their concerns. They plan to continue their campaign on Wednesday following Chicago’s bid presentation.

“We love the Olympics but Chicago can’t handle it,” said Rhoda Whitehorse, a retired public school teacher. “I have children and grandchildren and I don’t want them to be saddled with all this debt.”

On other issues:

— The IOC shifted gears on the selection process for the seven sports seeking inclusion in the 2016 games — golf, rugby sevens, baseball, softball, squash, karate and roller sports. The IOC executive board will meet in Berlin on Aug. 13 to select two sports to put forward to the general assembly in Copenhagen.

IOC sports director Christophe Dubi said Monday that if the two sports were rejected in the Copenhagen vote, the other five might have a chance to get voted onto the program.

But Rogge ruled that out.

“If they reject the sports, there will be no other proposal,” he said.

— Rogge issued another strong defense of the World Anti-Doping Agency rule requiring athletes to give advance notice of their whereabouts 365 days a year for out-of-competition controls. While some sports and athletes have criticized the rule as an invasion of privacy, Rogge called it a “cornerstone” in the fight against drug cheats.

“If we remove the whereabouts rule, we might as well diminish by 50 percent the fight against doping,” he said.