Olympians: native Chicago perfect for Games

Brian McBride was a legend at Fulham FC, a west-London soccer team in the English Premier League. The fans adored him; his teammates respected him. In four-and-a-half years, the American striker twice was named team player of the year and in 2007-08, he was team captain.

But then, in the summer of 2008, he left. McBride was coming home, to Chicago.

“It’s always been home to me,” said McBride, who along with his wife, Dina, grew up in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. “We love the city, and loved the way that we had our childhood and wanted our kids to have the same thing. It was always going to be something we wanted to do if it was ever going to be possible.”

McBride was nearly 36, and if there was ever a chance for him to play for his hometown Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer, this was it. So he and his family packed up their bags and left the glamour and riches of the world’s most famous soccer league so McBride could play soccer in the city he loves.

McBride fulfilled another dream in the summer of 2008. The striker had spent more than a decade on the national team before retiring in 2006. But two years later, he rejoined the U.S. squad and competed in his first Olympic Games in Beijing.

Now McBride is one of many Chicago-area athletes banging the drum to bring the two together—the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the city of Chicago. On October 2, the International Olympic Committee votes to determine which city will host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Chicago is in a tight race with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

“I think I am doubly biased,” McBride said after a recent practice with the Fire. “I would love for the Olympics to be in the U.S., and the fact that there’s a chance for them to be in what I consider the best city, the greatest city, and other people will get a chance to really see that, I think it will be a great thing.”

Chicago’s bid would bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games back to the United States for the first time since 2002, when the Winter Olympic Games were held in Salt Lake City. The last time the Olympic and Paralympic Games were held in the U.S. in the summer was in 1996 in Atlanta.

Some are calling the Chicago 2016 bid the strongest U.S. bid ever for an Olympic and Paralympic Games, with strong public-private support and plans to center the Games around the city’s beautiful park system.

Arlene Limas, a 1988 Olympic champion in taekwondo, can’t think of a better time to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games back to the United States, and she can’t think of a better place to have it than Chicago.

“I think it’s a little bit of a perfect storm,” said Limas, who grew up in Chicago and now lives in Washington, D.C. “I know the three other cities have great bids, too—they wouldn’t get where they are at if they didn’t—but I just see Chicago’s bid and I think, ‘That’s going to be hard to beat.’”

Limas worked on the bid to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games to Washington, D.C., in 2012, and has an inside understanding of how much stronger the bid from Chicago is now for 2016.

She has also done whatever she can in the nation’s capital to support her hometown’s efforts. Earlier this month, she was part of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic delegation that met with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to support the 2016 Chicago bid. She also is working with Washington-area athletes on an event to be together when the 2016 bid is announced on October 2.

Talking to McBride, Limas and other Chicagoans, it’s clear that they believe they have a hidden gem of sorts on the western shore of Lake Michigan. Chicago is the nation’s third largest city, but the “Second City” doesn’t have the same recognition as some of the major U.S. coastal cities.

Now, Chicagoans might have the opportunity to invite not just the world but also the country to see their city. They can show that it is a vibrant and unique metropolis that is “more than a big city in a fly-over state,” said Nelson Diebel, a two-time gold medalist in swimming at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games.

“I think we sort of look at is as, (Chicago) developed as a city sort of internally looking,” said Diebel, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Western Springs and now resides in Delaware. “It wasn’t saying, ‘Oh, we’re not New York or we’re not Los Angeles.’ It was, ‘This is who we are.’ And that’s one of the reasons it feels different that an East Coast or West Coast city, and I think a lot of people are proud of how it turned out.”

If the Olympic and Paralympic Games do end up in Chicago in 2016, athletes and fans from around the world will descend on the city. With Chicago’s wide array of ethnic neighborhoods, they might never know they left their home countries.

“There really is the possibility of having a little bit of a hometown feel to it no matter where you’re from,” Limas said. “So if you are an athlete from Poland, there is such a huge community there, there will be people that speak your languages, restaurants that serve your food.”

Chicago is also known for its sports culture, in which fans pack the stadiums even during lackluster seasons.

“They are very passionate sports fans, especially with the Bears and Cubs specifically,” Diebel said. “And I think that sort of sports viewing culture would be just another aspect of why it would be great to have the Olympics in Chicago.”

And after the events shut down for the night?

“You can go out to eat anywhere, you can go to a new place every month,” said Patrick Kane, who plays for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and is aiming for a spot on the 2010 U.S. Olympic hockey team. “And you look past the downtown area, you’ve still got Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park; there is so much to the city of Chicago that people don’t know about. You just look downtown and you might think that’s it, but there’s just so much more.”

Added McBride: “City-wise it just has so much to offer with the culture, the restaurants, the sporting events, and with the lake being there, in the summertime, it’s just an amazing time to be around the city.

“And then there are so many things to do in Chicago, when you are not competing in Chicago, you have Navy Pier, you have White Sox games, you have so many things going on that athletes can do and venture out, and I think that’s one of the biggest advantages Chicago has. There is just so much to do that they can get out and enjoy it.’’

And then of course there’s that word that can’t escape a conversation about Olympic and Paralympic host city bids: legacy.

Annie Swisshelm, a lifelong Chicago resident who finished fourth in curling at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, points to Chicago’s past successes and how they have helped her city grow.

“There have been several significant moments in our development as a great city,” Swisshelm said. “Obviously the rebuilding after the Chicago fire, being able to kind of correct the main infrastructure road problems then. Then the hosting of the World’s Fairs, one in 1893, and the other in 1933. With those huge kind of momentous events, we got to put into place Daniel Burnham’s plan so that our lakefront is public park place.

“And I think our next momentous event will be the Olympics, and I think we can continue Burnham’s plan and continue it down to the south-side lake front.”

Jerrod Fields, a Paralympic sprinting hopeful for 2012, grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and he can see the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games helping more than the lakefront there.

“I think it would be very special because I know growing up where I did, in the South Side and projects and things like that, there were really no goals other than basketball or football or baseball, and I think with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, it’s just another avenue of sports,” Fields said.

Fields was a U.S. Army corporal serving in Iraq when he was hit by a roadside bomb in 2005. It was only after having his left foot and ankle amputated that he first tried track and field. Now, the 27-year-old is one of Team USA’s brightest prospects entering the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

“If I had gotten into it earlier, who knows where I would have been now?” Fields asked.

“I just think with the kids out there, it’s just a whole different avenue. You’ve got gymnastics, swimming, things that we don’t do in Chicago, at least not competitively. For those children to see that, I think it would really help them out.”

If the IOC members vote for Chicago later this week, it will still be more than six years before the Olympics actually come to town. Still, some active Chicago athletes could still be competing if the Olympic and Paralympic Games stop by their hometown in 2016.

“I definitely have my calendar circled, hoping that we get this bid and that Chicago [is] the host city,” Fields said. “That’s one of the main reasons why I jumped aboard and I really wanted this to become a reality, where all my family and friends can come out and support.”

Six-time U.S. champion diver Christina Loukas grew up in the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods, but she spent as much time as possible at and around Wrigley Field, where her beloved Cubs play and where her parents own restaurants. Loukas finished eighth in 3-meter springboard diving at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

At 23, Loukas is focusing on the London 2012 Olympic Games for now, but she wouldn’t rule out continuing four more years if Chicago won the bid. Earlier this month, she was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame on September 24 at the Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero, Ill.

Winning an Olympic gold medal in her hometown would be even bigger honor.

“I will be like 30 years old when that comes around, but in my sport there are a bunch of divers that are older, so we’ll just have to wait and see,” Loukas said.

“I feel like it would just be in a unique situation competing in my hometown. … People from Chicago have supported me and I think it would just be awesome.”

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.