In long term, radical change needed to reduce Olympic host burden

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In long term, radical change needed to reduce Olympic host burden

If the International Olympic Committee thought the bidding process changes in its Agenda 2020 reforms would end the negativity about being a host of the Summer or Winter Games, it has been sadly mistaken.

The frightening new financial projections about the cost of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games and Rome’s withdrawal from the 2024 race on financial grounds make it clear the IOC still has a long way to go in convincing citizens of democracies that being a host of the ever-more-bloated Olympic Games is worth the time, money and hassle.

 The italicized passage above was the opening of my Friday column, which dealt with short- and long-term solutions to a mess so bad that six of the 10 official candidates to be host of the 2022 Winter Games and 2024 Summer Games withdrew after formalizing candidatures – and another, Boston, dropped out before filing its paperwork.

In the short term – for the 2024 vote coming next September – I borrowed an idea from my colleague Alan Abrahamson, who posited that the IOC should award the next two Summer Games at the same time, with Los Angeles getting 2024 and Paris 2028.

I suggested that the order makes no difference (click here for that column).  The important thing is doubling down will give the IOC more time to sort out its future.

The long-term answer?  Dramatic changes should be considered.

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For U.S. Swimmers, Team Effort Brought Stunning Success In An Individual Sport

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Maya DiRado after her upset win over Hungary's Katinka Hosszu in the 200 backstroke.  DiRado had a full set of medal colors in individual events and a second gold in 4 x 200 free relay.

Maya DiRado after her upset win over Hungary's Katinka Hosszu in the 200 backstroke.  DiRado had a full set of medal colors in individual events and a second gold in 4 x 200 free relay.

Maybe it came from the team’s group music video, “Carpool Karaoke,” which has drawn 4.6 million YouTube views in the first 12 days since going online.

Maybe it came from the cowbell ringing in the warm-up pool to salute each U.S. swimmer as he or she went to the ready room before a race.

Maybe it came from assistant coach Greg Meehan’s history-lesson-cum-motivational-ploy of having each of the women swimmers plant an American flag on grass near their building in the Olympic village, claiming the land for their own the way the 1862 Homestead Act had encouraged settlers to move West.

Maybe it came from the “ice-breaker games” Meehan, the Stanford women’s head coach, had the team play at their pre-Olympic training camps in the U.S. Those games were designed to last five minutes but sometimes turned into 45 minutes of belly-laugh bonding.

Maybe it came from the positive vibes created as swimmer after swimmer had stunning performances in practice at those camps in San Antonio and Atlanta.

Or maybe it was all those reasons, both intangible and real, that explain how 47 athletes in an individual sport created a team that utterly – and a bit surprisingly – dominated the eight days of Olympic swimming that ended Saturday.

FOR MY WHOLE STORY ON TEAMUSA.ORG, CLICK HERE

 

Compared To Past, Rio May Seem Like Day At The Beach For Both Lochte, Franklin

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RIO DE JANEIRO – This is a city whose global renown owes to a feeling that life is a beach – a virtual mandate to let the good times roll on Ipanema and Copacabana. So maybe it’s fitting that the 2016 Olympic Games will seem like lazy days on the strand for Missy Franklin and Ryan Lochte compared to their past experiences in the summer Games.

The irony is neither is likely to have days in the sun the way Franklin did in 2012, and Lochte did in both 2012 and 2008. 

This time around, they are Olympians, not stars, each swimming far fewer events than in the past, each likely to consider an individual event medal of any color as good as the golds they won four years ago in London.

FOR MY WHOLE STORY ON TEAMUSA.ORG, CLICK HERE

With A Welcome Push From A Rival, Ledecky Speeds To Another Olympic Berth

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Expect this to be a familiar sight:  Katie Ledecky in a victory ceremony at 2016 Olympic Trials in Omaha.  This one was for the 400 freestyle.  

Expect this to be a familiar sight:  Katie Ledecky in a victory ceremony at 2016 Olympic Trials in Omaha.  This one was for the 400 freestyle.  

OMAHA, Neb. - The race was 400 meters, but it seemed effectively over after the first 25. It wasn’t much longer before the public address announcer at CenturyLink Center intoned, “It’s Katie Ledecky against the clock.”

That would be the case, as it is in most of Ledecky’s races of 400 meters and longer, where she usually is competing only against herself.

But it turned out that this U.S. Olympic Team Trials race Monday night wasn’t over, even if Ledecky never was in real danger of losing. As she fell off her stunning pace for the first half of the race, it allowed Leah Smith to create some suspense with the best swim of her career.

“The last 150 meters, I kept telling myself, ‘Rio, Rio, Rio,’” Ledecky said, knowing she needed to touch the wall first to guarantee getting there, even if the top two in every event are virtually certain to go.

FOR THE FULL STORY, CLICK HERE