The17thman Goes for 2012 – Wednesday, April 01, 2009

In March of 2007 it was announced that the budget for the London 2012 Olympic Games had risen to

Representatives from the International Olympic Committee will arrive in Chicago in early April to thoroughly inspect the city and proposed sites outlined in the city’s bid proposal.

However, as Kathy Bergen and Laurie Cohen of the Chicago Tribune reported, the city “won’t appear as gung-ho as Olympics boosters would have hoped” when IOC officials arrive. In fact, the movement known as No Games Chicago is planning a public rally for April 2nd, protesting the idea of a Chicago Olympics.

IOC officials arrive in Chicago on April 2nd, the same day as the rally. A tour of the city and existing Olympic venues will be held on April 6th.

The reasons behind the protest range from preservation of city spaces, to budget allocation. No Games Chicago has a blog with more information on their views. The Chicago Tribune article is quick to remind us that Olympic protests are nothing new, and that the effect the rally will have on the final decision is impossible to predict.

Cost certainly is a valid concern, especially during a recession here in the United States. An article by the Associated Press found on Universal Sports, tells the story of how Denver won the bid to host the 1976 Winter Games but then bowed out–ultimately because of the cost. The story also puts the Olympic bid in perspective, with a budget that is notoriously left in the dust as soon as construction begins (full article).

According to the Chicago Games bid proposal, however, the 2016 Games would be much more affordable compared to the tens of billions spent on Beijing. One trick, to use existing facilities, is shared among bid finalists Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo. Their bids are all around $5 billion, but remember these numbers are always conservative. Only bid finalist Rio de Janeiro plans to undertake major venue construction, which bumps their proposed budget up to a hefty $14.4 billion (source).

> Chicago 2016 Organizers Show Glimpse of IOC Visit
> Chicago 2016 Website
> Chicago Bid Slogan Changed for Bad Translation

I still vividly remember watching Jason Lezak anchor the men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay at the Beijing Olympics. I was watching the Olympics in a Buffalo Wild Wings on the big screens usually reserved for March Madness and baseball’s opening day. When swimming came on, my friends and I rushed home so that we could hear the commentary and control our own instant replays on DVR.

This analysis by The New York Times, that I found on HowSwim.com, is a great way to re-live the race.

Thanks to Susan for showing me this article! Yahoo Sports recently reported that after 105 years, four Olympic swimming medals should be given to Australia rather than the United States. It was discovered that Francis Gailey, at the time of the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, was actually an Australian citizen.

This is an important discovery, because it means that Francis Gailey, as an Australian swimmer, holds the record for winning the most Australian swimming medals at a single Olympics.

Read the full article on Yahoo Sports for details surrounding the investigation into national records of the time period.

Francis Gailey won his 4 silver medals in the 220 yard free, the 440 yard free, the 880 yard free, and the mile. I guess I’ll have to pencil the new information into my copy of An Approved History of the Olympic Games.

>>Related article: Obscure Olympic Results

I just picked up a copy of An Approved History of the Olympic Games, that includes results from every Olympics through 1984. It reminds me of the sports almanac in Back To The Future II — if I could take this book back in time, I’d have the best Olympic predictions blog around; but no computer.

When I opened it up, I was hit by a wave of that old book smell that you don’t (at least you shouldn’t) get with computers these days.

The 1896 Olympics in Athens only has 4 swimming events listed. And the most obscure medal goes to: 100m Free Style between Sailors. The host nation, Greece, went on to win the gold and silver. There are no reported times for the event, but I’d imagine they’d be around the 1:22.2 gold medal time in the regular 100m Free clocked in by Alfred Hajos of Hungary.

The event was not repeated in the next Olympics. Any idea why sailors had their own category?

Ron Judd of The Seattle Times reported today that Bremerton swimmer Tara Kirk is ready to give up on competitive swimming.

Kirk could file the papers to officially retire from competitive swimming as early as this week. However, she is still planning to proceed with an arbitration hearing, set for May, to seek damages from USA Swimming for establishing rules that appeared to have cheated her out of a spot on the Beijing squad last summer.

“This whole thing isn’t about the money,” she says. “It’s about getting the right thing done. It would kill me if this happened again

USA Water Polo reflects on the success of their first Olympic Development Program (ODP) Summit:

The 1st annual ODP Summit in Los Angeles emphasized teamwork, fundamentals, forward planning, and respect for the game of water polo. The two day summit brought together coaches, referees, administrators and instructors from across America. It signaled a new era, bringing together the Men

For the first time ever, swimmers swept the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sportsman / Sportswoman of the Year awards. Michael Phelps took home Sportsman of the Year honors for the second time in his career, while Natalie Coughlin joined the likes of Janet Evans, Sippy Woodhead and Jenny Thompson as recipient of the Sportswoman of the Year.

A total of 13 swimmers have taken the honors 16 times. It is the first time in history that both Sportsman and Sportswoman honors have gone to swimmers.

>>Read the full story on SwimNetwork.com