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New York not the choice for 2012
Games
New York’s hopes for a comeback victory were dashed Wednesday when the
International Olympic Committee eliminated the Big Apple in the second
round of voting for the host city of the 2012 Summer Games.
“We’re very disappointed,” said Bob Beamon, the former Olympic long jump
champion who was part of the high-powered New York delegation. “I
thought we had an outstanding presentation.”
Just a month ago, the city’s bid seemed in disarray when its main
stadium plan collapsed. But officials quickly came up with a new idea
and were elated earlier Wednesday by the warm reception to its
presentation, which stressed New York’s long tradition of welcoming the
world and its resilient response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11,
2001.
Only Moscow was ousted sooner than New York. Madrid soon followed, and
London then defeated Paris to win the race.
The defeat was dismaying. Top New York delegates — including Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, and U.S. Olympic Committee president Peter
Ueberroth — sadly embraced each other outside their hotel but declined
immediate comment to reporters. Mayor Michael Bloomberg managed a weak
smile and said wanly, “It’s a lovely evening, isn’t it?”
In New York’s Rockefeller Center, a planned victory celebration turned
into an outdoor wake.
In questions after the presentation, one IOC member noted that New York
fared worst among the five bidding cities in terms of public support for
the games in an IOC-conducted survey.
Bloomberg responded that the poll was taken while the city was still
debating the controversial plan for a new Olympic stadium in Manhattan.
He contended that support for the games had risen since the Manhattan
plan was rejected by state lawmakers and replaced by plans for a new
stadium in Queens.
At a post-presentation news conference, Bloomberg said the city had
numerous development projects under way that would continue in any case,
but added, “Don’t minimize the impact the Olympic Games would have on
New York.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.
There was no immediate word whether the delegation would be interested
in bidding again for the 2016 Games, which stand a good chance of being
in the United States. Bloomberg had pointedly noted that crucial deals
for public funding and land — including the proposed Olympic Village
site in Queens — were valid only for this bid.
“Our city needs these games in 2012,” Bloomberg had told the IOC. He had
evoked the Sept. 11 attacks, which happened shortly before he was
elected.
New York’s presentation began with a video featuring an array of
residents praising the city in a variety of accents. Later, foreign
athletes and coaches, as well as American Olympians, extolled the joys
of competing in the city, and the video ended with an athlete running
through New York’s streets, bearing an Olympic torch that finally merged
with the Statue of Liberty’s torch.
“Why hasn’t New York, a city that welcomes everyone, a city that loves
to compete, ever hosted the Olympic Games?” asked deputy mayor and bid
leader Dan Doctoroff. “Now, after years of work, after listening to you
and changing our plans, we are ready.”
President George W. Bush, who unlike rival government leaders did not
travel to Singapore, appeared on video to call New York “an amazing
city” and pledge full federal support for security and visa logistics.
Among the dozens of present and former Olympians on hand to support New
York’s bid, the best known by far was Muhammad Ali. Suffering from
Parkinson’s disease, the 1960 boxing gold medalist stumbled slightly
before rising to acknowledge applause when he was introduced.
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