Ismaila Lere
8 July 2009
Abuja — The four cities bidding to host the 2016 Olympic Games on Tuesday took their turns to woo National Olympic Committees (NOCS) in Africa for their votes.
The cities, Chicago (U.S.), Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, sent their respective delegations to the 13th General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), which opened in Abuja on Monday.
The two-day meeting is also being attended by many international sports personalities including the President of the International Olympic Committee, Dr Jacques Rogge and the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on Sports for Development and Peace, Mr Wilfred Lemke.
In their separate presentations, the cities made passionate appeals to the African NOCs for all-round support in their bids.
Presenting the Chicago bid, U.S. President Barack Obama in a recorded speech beamed through satellite assured the sporting world of his support and that of the American Government and its people and urged Africans to support it too.
"I have always supported Chicago's bid because it has a platform for bringing the people of the world together and it is an opportunity for America to reach out to the world and extend the Olympic friendship to you," Obama said.
Ms Anita Defrantz, an IOC member and member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), presented other aspects of the Chicago bid alongside Michael Conley, a former Olympic athlete.
The Tokyo bid tagged "Setting the stage for heroes" was presented by Dr Ichiro Kono, Chair/CEO of the Tokyo 2016, said the bid was athlete-focused.
"We have an athlete-focused plan with optimal conditions for your athletes to train and perform to the peak of their abilities," he said.
Kono, who disclosed that he had always been impressed by Africa's treatment of its Olympians and Paralympians like heroes, said that was what informed Tokyo's concept of setting the stage for heroes.
He had with him, among others, the Japanese Olympic Committee President, Tsunekazu Takeda and the Vice Chair of the Tokyo 2016 Athletes Commission, Yuko Arakida.
Mr Carlos Nuzman, President of Rio 2016, told his audience that the Rio de Janeiro bid was for the benefit of blacks and youths worldwide as Brazil's 85 million population would love to see their African brothers.
"We have 85 million black population and a population of 65 million under-18s. who will make new connections through a Rio games, with their African brothers particularly," he said.
Football legend, Pele, whose real name is Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, enlivened the presentation and the audience by saying that Rio needed all African support because no South American city had ever hosted the Olympics.
"The games had been in Oceania, Europe, North America and Asia, but it had never been to Africa or South America.
"It should be Rio's turn now if we are to have a real social change and transformation across the world," he said.
Mr Mercedes Coghen, the CEO of Madrid 2016, while presenting the Madrid bid, said the Spanish city needed the games to make it more human.
"We need the games to make Madrid a place where people are more important than machines and we want to deliver a games with the human touch," he said.
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