The three dozen musicians, baton twirlers and dancers from the King College Prep Jaguar Band played intermittently in intermittent rain and 30-degree temperatures for nearly an hour Sunday morning when the big moment came.
It lasted about 63 seconds, which is how long it took for the 13 members of the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission to file by the band on their way to a briefing inside the DuSable Museum about Chicago’s Olympic plans for Washington Park.
It was among the few, brief glimpses of the commission members, designed as photo opportunities for media kept at several arms’ lengths from the visitors, who will make no comment until Tuesday afternoon, the last day of their visit. And it will be a surprise if what they say at the lone IOC news conference sheds much more light on their feelings about the Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Games and their experiences during four days that could have a dramatic impact on the city’s future.
Hundreds of volunteers, like the band, and just a handful of protesters weathered long waits to greet the commission’s members as they spent nearly eight hours touring planned Olympic sports venues, media center and the Olympic Village site in the city. The tour was the most public moment of what Chicago 2016 head Patrick Ryan called the commission’s chance to “kick the tires” of this city’s bid.
Yet the commission members’ impressions and the report they prepare after visiting the other three finalists — Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid — in the next month will be just one factor in the Oct. 2 vote taken by the IOC to choose the 2016 host.
Mayor Daley rode with the commission on their first stop of the tour Sunday, and then later rejoined them for lunch at the Shedd Aquarium.
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Quest for gold
Other notes from Tribune reporters taking the tour: As a media bus passed the southern end of Grant Park, where the archery venue would be located, tour guide Sean Kinzie — who has been on loan to Chicago 2016 from architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill — said it was “probably the best-sited archery venue of any Olympic Games” because of the panorama of the Chicago skyline.
The IOC says it pays all costs for evaluation commission travel, food and lodging in an attempt to assure neutrality, but its media department would not provide a cost figure.
