It has been a very exciting month for Chicago’s Olympic bid, and as you read below I think you’ll see that it’s been an even bigger month for Chicago’s Olympic Spirit.

We hosted the World Boxing Championships, an event many called the greatest amateur boxing championships ever. Our leadership traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland (the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee), to learn more about the Movement at a 2016 Applicant City Seminar. I also traveled with many of Chicago’s top Olympians to Houston for the U.S. Olympic Assembly to spread the word to the nation about our Olympic bid plans.

But perhaps most important, the amazingly diverse crowds at the Boxing Championships, cheering on the more than 110 nations that competed here, showed that the world is already in Chicago and that the city embraces the Olympic Spirit.

Wishing you the best for the holiday season,

Patrick G. Ryan
Chairman and CEO
Chicago 2016

The AIBA World Boxing Championships Chicago 2007, which were held from October 27 to November 3, are being celebrated as a huge success. Boxing great Muhammad Ali attended the opening ceremonies, and a number of distinguished guests were in the audience for the competition’s final rounds, including former heavyweight world champion Evander Holyfield and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, who described the championships as “a great success.”

Ching-Kuo Wu, an IOC member from Taiwan and president of the International Boxing Association, called the event “the best ever.” The competition, which attracted nearly 600 boxers from 112 countries with hopes of capturing a gold medal, also served as a qualifying event for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. World Sport Chicago hosted the championships and distributed a portion of the tickets free to young athletes and residents in many of the city’s ethnic neighborhoods. A total of 41,445 fans attended the competition to cheer on the athletes, many of whom hailed from their home countries. In all, 19 countries won medals at the AIBA World Boxing Championships: Russia led the way with eight, followed by China with five and Italy with four.

Chicago 2016 Delegation beside the Olympic Flame, Lausanne

The seminar was held at the Olympic Museum and covered such topics as accommodations, media communications, and Olympic legacy, among others. IOC President Jacques Rogge presided over the conference, and guest speakers included Lord Sebastian Coe, head of London 2012’s organizing committee, and Essar Gabriel, the director of the Youth Olympic Games. The event provided Chicago 2016 with a positive setting to mix with the members from other Applicant Cities and was very much in the Olympic Spirit of friendly competition and positive interaction.

Equip for Equality, one of the state’s leading advocacy organizations on behalf of people with disabilities, held its annual gala on Tuesday, November 6, at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel to celebrate advances in the rights of people with disabilities. Equip bestowed the Civic Leadership Award on Chicago 2016 for its emphasis on the Paralympics in Chicago’s successful bid to be the US finalist for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Equip commended Chicago 2016 for “the committee’s extraordinary vision in recognizing that the Paralympics, athletes with disabilities, and Chicago’s advances on behalf of people with disabilities are invaluable assets to the city’s 2016 Games bid.” Linda Mastandrea, Chicago 2016’s Vice President of Sport and Accessibility, was in attendance to accept the award on the organization’s behalf.

The U.S. Olympic Assembly, held in October in Houston, brought together U.S. Olympic Committee staff and other organizations associated with the U.S. Olympic Movement – including the U.S. Olympians Association, the Athletes Advisory Council, and national governing bodies leaders – in an effort to promote communication, collaboration, and the development of new initiatives to support U.S. athletes.

Chicago 2016 Chairman and CEO Pat Ryan joined Olympians Jim Scherr, USOC CEO, and Norman Bellingham, USOC chief operating officer, to give the keynote address, “Amazing awaits: Shaping the future of America’s Olympic Movement.” More than 300 members of the U.S. Olympic family, including special guests former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush, attended five days of meetings and panels. President Bush, who served as chief of the U.S. Liaison Office for the People’s Republic of China from 1974 to 1976, was introduced by USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth as the Honorary Chef de Mission of the 2008 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams.

Olympic Boxer David Diaz participates in
Principal for a Day

Later that day, the group attended an honorary luncheon hosted by Mayor Richard M. Daley, where David Diaz, a 1996 Olympian, delivered a rousing speech about his return to his alma mater Linne Elementary School . The following athletes participated: Bill Mulliken (Belding Elementary School), John Vande Velde (University of Chicago Charter School, Woodlawn), Christian Vande Velde (University of Chicago Charter School, Woodlawn), Kenneth Johnson (Neil Elementary School), Diane Simpson-Bundy (Duprey Elementary School), Becky Turner-Buckland (Bethune Elementary School), Jeanne Collier (Kenwood Academy), Arlene Limas (Disney Magnet Elementary School), Bob Berland (Mather High School), David Diaz (Linne Elementary School), Danell Nicholson (Dunbar High School), Michael Bennett (Senn High School), Jim Brewer (Dunbar High School), Lisa Wang (Kenwood Academy), Nate Jones (Montefiore Special School), Jason Wening (Jahn Elementary School), and Montell Griffin (Simeon High School). Chicago 2016 thanks them for their dedication to the youth of the Olympic Movement.

U.S. Greco-Roman Wrestler Dremiel Byers

“Something went wrong at the table, and we started singing the national anthem,” said 2004 Olympian Brad Vering (84 kg/185 lbs), who won a silver medal and sang part of the Star-Spangled Banner with his teammates before the music played. “It was amazing.”

Vering teamed with fifth-place finisher Lindsey Durlacher and bronze medal winners Harry Lester (66 kg/145.5 lbs) and 2002 World Champion and Greco-Roman Wrestler of the Year Dremiel Byers (120 kg/264.5 lbs) to help the United States win its first world title with a 31–30 victory over Russia.

US Women’s Wrestler Kristie Marano

The victory tied Marano, 28, with U.S. freestyle legend Bruce Baumgartner for most world medals by a US wrestler.

“Competing in the Olympics is a goal I’ve had since I was five years old,” said Marano, who missed making the 2004 Olympic team after finishing second at the Olympic Team Trials but earned a trip to Athens as a training partner. “Reaching that goal would pretty much complete me.”

A three-time U.S. Olympic Committee Female Wrestler of the Year, three-time USA Wrestling Women’s Wrestler of the Year, and the 2007 Pan American Games gold medalist, Marano won gold medals at the World Championships in 2000 and 2003, silver medals from 1996 to 1999, and bronzes in 2002 and 2006.