Jerry Colangelo said out loud Monday what a lot of Chicagoans have been saying for years: We wuz robbed of the 2016 Olympics.
Colangelo, the chairman of USA Basketball, was on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike’’ show when he unloaded on the 2009 voting that led to Rio de Janeiro getting the Summer Games over Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid.
“I was part of the Chicago (contingent) that went to Copenhagen,’’ the Chicago Heights native said. “We had the best package. It should have been Chicago, not anywhere else because it was the strongest package for infrastructure, hotels, restaurants, venues – but that thing was wired all the way, and it didn’t happen. We finished fourth in the voting with the IOC, and that was unbelievable.’’
Asked what he meant by “wired,’’ Colangelo said: “That decision was made before the vote even took place. That’s what I’m saying.’’
The International Olympic Committee is notorious for horse-trading, but when Chicago, one of the favorites, was knocked out in the first round of voting, it was almost beyond stunning. It had the whiff of backroom politics that Chicagoans inherently recognize.
“When we were in Copenhagen, we were the first presenter,’’ Colangelo said. “We went back to our hotel. We saw the other three cities make their presentations via big screen. With each presentation, we were emboldened by our package that we were going to win this thing.
“We were told to return to the convention hall at 4 o’clock. They didn’t wait for us even to get back to the building. We were on our way on the bus when we were notified that we were out and finished fourth in the voting. Enough said.’’
Rio beat out Madrid in the final round. Since then, Brazil’s second-largest city has been plagued by economic, political and health crises.
Chicago has its own problems. The eternal debate is whether the Olympics would have been one more had the city won the vote. Rather than counting votes, maybe we should be counting blessings.
