Obamas make final pitch for Chicago ahead of IOC vote

By Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY

COPENHAGEN - President Obama stressed his desire to make "visitors from all around the world feel welcome" as he made Chicago's case to be the 2016 Summer Olympics host here Friday, and his wife Michelle spoke with emotion about her father's love for sports.

Together, with Michelle in the set-up role and the President as the closer, they gave a lift to Chicago's final presentation to the International Olympic Committee voters, who will choose among Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

"We're very, very pleased and proud of having them here and the message they delivered," Chicago 2016 chairman Pat Ryan said.

The Obamas will know by 1 p.m. ET, when the winner is due to be announced, whether the President's political gamble in coming here for a few hours paid off. Critics questioned the value and motive of his attendance with so many pressing domestic and other international issues on his plate.

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"I think Chicago could not have made a better presentation. Obviously, now it's up to the IOC members," the President said as he left the convention center where the IOC was meeting, headed to greet Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen before returning to the USA.

He will receive the news about the winner while he's en route.

In his remarks to IOC members, Obama praised the warmth and diversity of his adopted hometown, where he launched his political career.

"Growing up, my family moved around a lot," he said. "And I never really had roots in any one place or culture or ethnic group. Then I came to Chicago. And on those Chicago streets, I worked alongside men and women who were black and white; Latino and Asian; people of every class and nationality and religion."

Michelle Obama had been in Copenhagen since Wednesday, meeting one-on-one with IOC members to pitch for her hometown.

She spoke to the members Friday about growing up on Chicago's South Side, about sitting on her dad's lap to watch the Olympics, and about her dad's commitment to exposing her and her brother, Oregon State basketball coach Craig Robinson, to sports despite battling multiple sclerosis.

"My dad was my hero," she said, "and when I think of what these Games can mean to people all over the world, I think about people like my dad, people who face seemingly insurmountable challenges but never let go."

When IOC members asked questions at the end of Chicago's presentation, Obama jumped in to answer one from Syed Shadid Ali of Pakistan, who wanted assurances that foreigners entering the USA for the Olympics would have few problems.

"One of the legacies I want to see coming out of the Chicago 2016 hosting of the Games is a reminder that America at its best is open to the world," Obama said. "And, as has already been indicated, we are putting the full force of the White House and the State Department to make sure that not only is this a successful Games, but that visitors from all around the world feel welcome and will come away with a sense of the incredible diversity of the American people."

Entry problems have been a critical IOC concern about the USA since 9/11 and hurt New York's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

"This (IOC meeting) could be a meeting in Chicago because we look like the world," Obama said. "And I think that over the last several years, sometimes that fundamental truth about the United States has been lost."

Obama is the first U.S. president to attend an Olympic host-city vote.

Rio, considered Chicago's primary rival because it offers the appeal of hosting the first South American Olympics, also has its president here, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. King Juan Carlos of Spain and new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also are in Copenhagen.

Tony Blair began this parade of heads of state when, as British prime minister, he personally lobbied the IOC in the days preceding the vote on the 2012 Olympic host in 2005. IOC members credited his presence with helping London edge Paris in the final round of voting.

Two years later, then-Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the vote for the 2014 Winter Olympic host and little-known Sochi, Russia, won.

Chicago is bidding to become the first U.S. city since Atlanta in 1996 to host the Summer Olympics.

Chicago presented first on Friday, followed by Tokyo, Rio and Madrid. The IOC members will take up to 30 minutes to vote by secret ballot in rounds, with the lowest vote-getter eliminated in each round. Ninety-seven IOC members are eligible to vote in the first round. (IOC members from the countries of each bid city are not allowed to vote if that city is still in the running.)

Two IOC members - hockey player Saku Koivu of Finland and Guinea member Alpha Ibrahim Diallo - were unable to make the session, according to the Associated Press.

That left 95 voters in the first round. In the event of a two-city tie in the early rounds, a runoff is held. If there is a tie in the final round, IOC presidednt Jacques Rogge can vote or ask the IOC executive board to break the deadlock.

Chicago's presentation was light on technical detail, foregoing even the ubiquitous computer-simulated, bird's eye view of where venues would be located. With that view, IOC members could have been reminded once more how much closer together Chicago's planned venues are than Rio's.

"The presentation was never intended to be a show," Chicago 2016 operations director Doug Arnot said.?"The presentation was intended to be a heartfelt discussion with the International Olympic Committee about Chicago and about our commitment.? Our intent was to demonstrate to them we will be good partners, and that we are people they could trust."

Ryan stressed that Chicago would be able to "exclusively" focus on organizing the Games for the next seven years, a point made in contrast to Rio, which will be busy the next five years getting ready for the 2014 World Cup.

Nothing resonated so much, though, as the presence of Obama, whom IOC member Dick Pound of Canada called a "superstar."

President Obama spent about 20 minutes shaking hands with IOC members in a lobby after the presentation.

He left with a wide smile, telling reporters, "The only thing I'm upset about is they arranged for me to follow Michelle - that's always bad."

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Contributing: The Associated Press