Chicago is approaching a significant milestone in its quest to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. On June 4, at SportAccord in Athens, Greece, the International Olympic Committee will release the list of cities that will move on to the Candidate phase of the process. A delegation from Chicago, including myself and the Mayor Daley, will be in Athens to represent the bid and will attend the announcement.

As I think about the work we’ve put in thus far, and the progress we’ve made, I can truly say that the bidding process has done much to raise the international profile of the city and to lay the foundation for a legacy of amateur sport among the city’s youth. Regardless of the outcome on June 4, we are committed to continuing this mission and promoting the values of the Olympic Movement. One of the truly distinctive assets of our bid is the exuberance and enthusiasm of the people of Chicago, the Midwest and the nation as a whole, which the athletes and spectators will experience if we host the 2016 Games.

If we are fortunate to be chosen as a Candidate City on June 4, we look forward to your continued support in sharing that enthusiasm with the world.

Best regards,

Patrick G. Ryan
Chairman and CEO
Chicago 2016

The selection of Candidate Cities by the IOC at SportAccord on June 4 is the next step in a bidding process that began almost two years ago. The announcement is scheduled for 10:30 AM local time (go to www.olympic.org to watch the announcement live) and will be accompanied by a critique of the Applicant Files that each city submitted in January of this year. Our competition consists of six world-class cities, some of which have been through the bid process before.

While we are optimistic about our chances for making it to the next round, we are also realistic about our relative strengths and weaknesses, given the strong field of contenders. We will continue to refine Chicago’s bid plan to address the concerns of the Olympic Family and to present the best possible plan for delivering a spectacular Olympic and Paralympic Games experience for all. Watch for more details on our bid effort and visit the Web site frequently in the coming weeks for opportunities to get involved.

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Chicago 2016’s premier installment of Olympic Week in America, which took place from May 5 through May 9, spread the ideals of the Olympic Movement to students at 50 schools in the Chicago area. In all, 17 Olympians and Paralympians participated in the program, visiting 11 schools and sharing the lessons they learned from training for and competing at the Games. Approximately 25,000 students celebrated Olympic Week and took part in activities and athletic competition. Chicago 2016 is committed to building on this curriculum and ensuring that the Olympic ideals are reinforced throughout the school year.

See more photos and watch videos from Olympic Week in America.

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In the upcoming months, the Community Relations team will host a series of presentations throughout the Chicagoland area. These events are designed specifically for ethnic organizations and groups and are open to all that register. The locations and tentative times are as follows:

Monday, June 9, 6:00 PM: Copernicus Foundation, 5216 West Lawrence Avenue, Chicago, IL

Tuesday, June 10, 4:00 PM: U.S. Cellular Field, 333 West 35th Street, Chicago, IL

Thursday, June 12, 3:30 PM: Toyota Park, 7300 W. 71st St., Bridgeview, IL

Friday, June 13, 4:00 PM: Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect Avenue, Elmhurst, IL

The bid team has also rolled out a series of environmental outreach meetings designed to inform groups on key aspects of the bid’s environmental plan by providing them with a setting to directly interact with senior staff members.

For a recap of past outreach activities and an updated list of upcoming events, please visit the Community Corner.

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On June 21–28, Chicago’s magnificent lakefront will host the 2008 Etchells World Championship Regatta. World Sport Chicago is partnering with the Chicago Yacht Club and the Etchells Organizing Committee to give Chicago residents the opportunity to see and experience this world-class sporting event on beautiful Lake Michigan. Opening ceremonies will take place the evening of Saturday, June 21, at the Chicago Yacht Club Belmont Harbor Station.

This prestigious international sailing event, which will start in Belmont Harbor, is part of a continuing effort by World Sport Chicago and Chicago 2016 to bring world-class Olympic and amateur sporting events to Chicago. The weeklong event will also include a demonstration sailing day for selected high-school students who attend Rickover Academy, a naval-focused academy that is part of the Chicago Public Schools.

More than 80 yachts with some of the world’s top sailors will compete for the Etchells World Title. Countries represented in the race include Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States.

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The Paralympic World Cup, held in Manchester, England, from May 8 to May 11 brought more than 400 competitors from 45 countries to compete for 175 medals in four sports. The results proved that U.S. athletes are in a good position to do well at the Beijing Paralympic Summer Games.

The U.S. men’s wheelchair basketball team emerged triumphant from the tournament. In fact, the men’s team came back from its only pool play loss to Great Britain to triumph over that same team in the gold-medal match, 60–58.

In Paralympic track cycling, Chicagoan Greta Neimanas proved she is well prepared for Beijing, winning a bronze medal in the pursuit. “I am really happy about my performance at the World Cup. It has been my goal to break the four-minute mark, and I did that.” Teammate Allison Jones also made the podium, winning bronze in the pursuit and the 500-meter sprint time trial.

The U.S. Paralympic swim team proved that they are in strong position to defend their top spot in the overall medal count from the 2006 World Championships, winning multiple medals over two days of swimming competition. According to Coach Julie O’Neill, Miranda Uhl had the swim of the meet, winning the 200 IM in a time of 3:18.78, swimming a personal best and setting a new U.S. record in the process.

In track and field, a team of 11 athletes brought home 13 medals, including 6 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze. Veteran track athlete and USOC Paralympian of the Year Jessica Galli led the team with a gold medal, two silvers and a bronze. Galli noted, “It was a great chance to meet up with part of our cross-disability track and field squad, watch everyone compete and get to know each other on and off the track.”

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Marathoner Deena Kastor of Mammoth Lakes, California, will compete in her third Olympic Games this summer in Beijing. She is fresh off her come-from-behind victory at the U.S. Olympic Trials held in her native Boston. Poland-born Magdalena Lewy Boulet led the entire race until mile 23.

“I started to pick up the pace at the halfway mark, but people kept telling me that I was 1:40 back,” said Kastor, who won the race in 2:29:35 to Boulet’s 2:30:19. “At 23 to 24 miles, I thought I may be succumbing to second place. [But like] the first time I won, in Chicago, my coach told me to define myself that day.”

Kastor captured the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens to become only the second U.S. women’s marathon Olympic medal winner. She competed in the 10,000 meters in Sydney in 2000 and was the 2005 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon winner.

“It feels just as sweet the third time around,” said Kastor. “I’m grateful to be going over with two very talented women.” Boulet, fifth at the 2004 Olympic Trials, and Blake Russsell, who was the first alternate in 2004, will join Kastor in Beijing.

Also at the U.S. Olympic trials, Joan Benoit Samuelson, who will be inducted into the USOC Hall of Fame on June 19 at the Harris Theater in Chicago, said good-bye to elite marathon racing in her sixth Olympic Trials. And she did so while setting an American record for her age group in her hometown with a time of 2:49:08. Kastor and this year’s Olympic Team watched her cross the finish line.

“It’s been a great run,” said the 1984 Olympic gold medalist and 1985 Chicago Marathon champion. “I will run another marathon but not at this level. I’m handing the torch off to [Kastor], and she can run with it.”

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Illinois archer Vic Wunderle qualified for his third Olympic team this month at the U.S. Olympic Trials and is hoping this trip turns golden.

“We have the team that is capable of bringing home the gold medal,” said Wunderle, 32. “Butch Johnson and I are both Olympic medalists, and Brady Ellison has been shooting really well. [But] our sport leaves a lot to who is hot that day.”

Wunderle is banking that good things come in threes. He competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials at 16 in 1992 (16th place) and in 1996 (6th) but qualified for the Olympic Games on his third try in 2000, when he went on to win an individual silver medal and the team bronze medal in Sydney. He failed to advance out of the quarterfinals round in Athens, finishing one point behind the eventual Olympic champion—in part because of changing wind conditions.

“The wind blew and blew,” he said. “I remember looking back at my coach [thinking:] ‘Is it ever going to stop?’ With 10 seconds left, you just have to shoot. My arrow drifted four feet from where I was aiming. That is the nature of the game.”

Wunderle grew up with his older and younger sisters in Mason City, Illinois, located between Springfield and Peoria. He was introduced to the “family sport” of archery by his father and grandfather and used the “limb off the willow tree in the backyard” for his first bow. He won the under-12 category at an archery tournament at just age 7 and later won two individual Junior World Championships titles.

Now he boasts seven golds, two silvers and a bronze medal won during his four Pan American Games appearances plus international titles and nearly 40 national championships. He has also set multiple world, Pan American and national records.

Yet retirement doesn’t seem to be in the near future, especially with the lure of a potential Chicago 2016 Games.

“It would be my dream to bring home a medal from the Olympics in my home state,” he said. “I would be 40, so that would be a realistic possibility. Nothing would make me happier than to compete in front of my friends, family and other people who have supported me in the sport of archery.”

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