No Games Chicago shows up at IOC's door, bearing books

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Three delegates for No Games Chicago, a group opposed to the city's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, showed up at International Olympic Committee headquarters Tuesday evening with 50 copies of a book titled "The No Games Chicago Book of Evidence for the International Olympic Committee.''

Journalists from media outlets in Spain and Brazil helped No Games carry 50 copies of the book into the building, apparently unconcerned how that looked given that their countries have cities (Madrid and Rio de Janeiro) bidding against Chicago for the 2016 Summer Games.

IOC communications director Mark Adams told No Games delegate Tom Tresser that the IOC would accept the books, a compilation of reprinted news clippings.  Adams then took Tresser aside for a private meeting.

Adams said he assured Tresser that IOC President Jacques Rogge would get a copy of the No Games book but that it was "not very likely'' he could fulfill Tresser's two other requests: a meeting with Rogge and a chance to sit in on Chicago 2016's Wednesday presentation to the IOC members.

But he got plenty of attention from a couple dozen media members, nearly all from outside the U.S., by coming to IOC headquarters just after the Rogge press conference that followed the two-day IOC executive board meeting.

Tresser said that IOC members would find Chicago's bid "deficient'' once they saw the facts in the No Games book.

Answering a question I raised in an earlier blog today about the No Games Chicago claim that the three people were spending "about $10,000'' on this trip, which includes just four hotel nights, Tresser replied, "That's how much it's costing us, pal.''  He said the donated plane tickets were worth $2,000 -- far more than what a round-trip from Chicago to Geneva could be bought for.

No Games delegate Rhoda Whitehorse said the tickets actually came from donated miles in an airline mileage program and added that the third delegate, Martin Macias Jr., was "couch surfing'' -- an exchange program developed on the Internet to allow people to trade free accommodations.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Tom Tresser, left, and other members of the organization "No Games Chicago" protest in front of the IOC headquarters in Switzerland on June 16. Credit: Dominic Favre / EPA

Comments

[no games no how]

Visit www.nogameschicago.com to learn what a boondoggle the Olympics are. Don't let the IOC help Daley privatize the Chicago parks. Which is what will happen if Chicago gets the 2016 Games. The Chicago Park District is already in cahoots on this.

[Mike]

Has anyone investigated the finances of these No Games groups? It seems to me they have a lot of money and are the main reason the US didn't get the olympics- so who are the investors? Am I the only one thinking this could be some right wing PACs attempting to make Obama look bad? Follow the money, LA Times.