IOC executive board formally approves New York's revised stadium plan

[GaryMrMets]

IOC executive board formally approves New York's revised stadium plan

.c The Associated Press

SINGAPORE (AP) - As expected, the International Olympic Committee's executive board Tuesday approved an 11th-hour revision in the stadium plans for New York City's bid to host the 2012 Summer Games.

Last month, in what initially seemed a huge setback for the bid, state officials rejected a proposed showpiece stadium on Manhattan's West Side. The bid campaign quickly devised an alternative plan to use a less costly stadium in the borough of Queens that eventually would replace Shea Stadium as the home of the Mets baseball team.

``We accepted what happened in New York and the change of the stadium,'' said executive board member Gerhard Heiberg of Norway. ``It's been examined and been accepted, no problem.''

Dan Doctoroff, leader of New York's bid campaign, called the approval ``a great final step.''

The new plan also has been endorsed by the governing bodies of soccer and track and field.

The executive board has held daily meetings since Sunday, in advance of the full IOC session at which members on Wednesday will choose a 2012 host city among New York, Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow.

07/04/05 23:01 EDT

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

[GaryMrMets]

Bloomberg: NYC Still Has Shot at Olympics

By DAVID CRARY
.c The Associated Press

SINGAPORE (AP) - Backed by a walking, talking Statue of Liberty, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered a feisty Fourth of July pep talk Monday on behalf of his city's Olympic bid - saying an 11th-hour change in stadium plans was evidence of pluck and adaptability.

``New Yorkers have shown that when they get knocked down, they get back up,'' Bloomberg said. ``We didn't drop out, we didn't cry about it.''

He was referring to a state panel's rejection, in early June, of a plan for an expensive new stadium in Manhattan. Bid officials swiftly devised a new plan for a less costly stadium in the less fashionable borough of Queens.

New York is widely considered to be trailing Paris and London in the heated race for the 2012 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee will chose among five contenders - including Madrid and Moscow - on Wednesday.

America's Independence Day marked the first full day of lobbying in Singapore by Bloomberg, who was joined at a news conference by Olympic champions, President George Bush's personal representative, and a woman with green-painted skin dressed in a contest-winning Statue of Liberty costume.

Bloomberg said he hopes to convince undecided IOC delegates that a New York-based Summer Games would be an economic boost for the Olympic movement and international sports federations.

``America is the biggest sports market in the world - it's a market that they have to approach,'' he said.

He also emphasized New York's ethnic diversity, saying, ``We have our own Olympic Village every day in New York.''

Among the athletes sharing the podium were Jackie Joyner-Kersee, winner of three gold medals in track and field, and Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, a five-time gold medal winner whose affection for New York stems in part from his presence in the city during the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

``I saw the resolve,'' Thorpe said of the city's response to the devastation. ``I know what New York can do.''

Bloomberg also alluded to Sept. 11.

``We want an opportunity to say thank you to the world, which rallied in our support when we needed it,'' he said.

The mayor said the rejected stadium in Manhattan might have been better for the city in the long term, but he insisted the revised plan was as good or better in terms of staging the Olympics. Under the plan, the New York Mets would build a new baseball stadium next to their current home in Shea Stadium, and the new facility would be expanded temporarily to accommodate Olympic events.

``That's what great teams do - they adapt,'' Bloomberg said. ``No one starts out with a game plan and slavishly follows it to the end.''

On Tuesday, the IOC's executive board approved the revision in the stadium plans.

``We accepted what happened in New York and the change of the stadium,'' said executive board member Gerhard Heiberg of Norway. ``It's been examined and been accepted, no problem.''

Roland Betts, Bush's personal representative on the New York delegation and a 40-year friend of the president, spoke briefly at the news conference.

Though Bush - unlike the leaders of Britain and France - is not coming to Singapore, Betts described him as ``a huge fan of the Olympics.'' Betts also noted that Bush's birthday was Wednesday - the day New York will learn the fate of its bid - and said, ``I know what I'm going to get him.''

U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton joined the New York delegation on Tuesday. The former first lady was put to work immediately - even before her first bite of breakfast after a long flight. She was led over to meet an IOC member.

``New York City exemplifies Olympic values every single day,'' she said. ``Living in New York is like living in an Olympic Village - you have every language from every corner of the globe.''

U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth said New York's economic clout would provide a financial boost to the international Olympic movement even though the city - unlike its four rival bidders - was not the national capital.

``I just learned something,'' Bloomberg quipped. ``I always thought New York was the capital of the country.''

07/04/05 23:19 EDT

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.