Obama will join Olympic bid team in Denmark

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That would be First Lady Michelle Obama, not President Obama, signing on for next month’s trip to Denmark to help Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

‘We are very pleased to confirm that First Lady Michelle Obama will be a lead member of the Official Chicago 2016 Delegation for the upcoming International Olympic Committee Session in Copenhagen, Denmark,’ said Patrick Ryan, Chicago 2016’s chairman and CEO.

‘As a lifelong Chicagoan, the First Lady is uniquely qualified to share with members of the IOC the passion and enthusiasm of our city for sport and the Olympic and Paralympic movement.’

Just a few words of advice for the bid team. Don’t make fun of the food of the competing countries, as strange as it may sound.

Why? Jacques Chirac, then the French president, in 2005 jokingly ripped British food on the eve of the vote for the 2012 Summer Games, reportedly saying: ‘You can’t trust people who cook as badly as that.’

His comments pulled him into a media firestorm and actually became an issue for several days. And that was before the days of Twitter.

So Chicagoans -- hands off the culinary efforts of Madrid and Toyko. Kind of hard to diss tapas and miso soup, though.

-- Lisa Dillman