USOC will not bid for 2018 Winter Olympics
Sorry, Denver. Because of Chicago, your Olympic dreams are on hold.
The U.S. Olympic Committee will not join a crowded field of bidders for the 2018 Winter Games, intent on devoting its attention to Chicago, one of four finalists for the 2016 Summer Games.
"There won't be a 2018 bid," said Darryl Seibel, spokesman for the Colorado Springs-based USOC. "Our sole focus is on 2016 and doing everything we can to support Chicago. We have given absolutely zero consideration to any other bids."
The International Olympic Committee will select the 2016 host - Chicago is battling Madrid, Spain; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Tokyo - on Oct. 2. The IOC deadline for receiving 2018 applicant cities is mid-October.
Three cities - Denver; Reno, Nev.; and Salt Lake City - expressed interest in bringing the Winter Games to America for the fifth time. The U.S. last hosted in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
Denver would have been a 2018 long shot, considering bids have been contemplated by 17 other cities, including Geneva; Munich, Germany; Pyeongchang, South Korea; and Quebec City. Pyeongchang was the 2010 and 2014 runner-up.
Plus, Denver is the only city to return the Olympics. Troubled by financial and environmental concerns, Colorado residents voted in 1972 that Denver shouldn't stage the 1976 Olympics it had been awarded.
"We have no bid right now because the USOC does not have a (current) bid process," said Rob Cohen, executive chairman of the Metro Denver Sports Commission. "When they do, we are interested in talking to them. ... It's not our decision on whether we bid or not."
Speculation around a 2018 bid by Denver - the state's first since the 1972 vote and Colorado Springs and Aspen failed in a joint campaign for the 1960 Olympics - gained steam in 2006, when the USOC designated it a "community partner city."
Then Denver won the right to host the U.S. Olympic curling trials in February, an IOC executive board meeting and gathering of international sports officials in March and the USA Boxing national championships in June.
Last year, Gov. Bill Ritter and Mayor John Hickenlooper spearheaded a 165-person contingent of Denver business and government leaders to Vancouver, British Columbia, where they visited 2010 Olympic venues.
"Those are steps in a long-term progression," Seibel said. "The key is long term. It doesn't happen overnight."
Vail councilman Andy Daly claims the USOC misled Denver Olympic backers.
"I'm disappointed they wouldn't have been more upfront with some of their limitations," he said. "Talk to the people who have been working on it so diligently until this point so they don't get blindsided by the news."
Said Vail Valley Foundation vice president John Dakin: "Chicago is top priority. The USOC has been very clear, saying there's a very real possibility that if Chicago looks strong for 2016, they would not muddy the water in a U.S. bid for 2018."
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