Chicago Olympic bid spokesman takes top job with USOC
The mouthpiece for Chicago's failed 2016 Olympic bid was appointed Wednesday to a top job with the United States Olympic Committee, whose tensions with the International Olympic Committee played a role in Chicago's flop.
Patrick Sandusky will serve as chief communications officer for the USOC through the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver and, possibly, beyond.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
He will report directly to Acting CEO Stephanie Streeter, who announced after Chicago's stunning first-round knock-out that she would not seek the CEO's job on a permanent basis. A new CEO is expected to be in place by year's end.
"I really believe in the Olympic movement. That's why we tried so hard to bring the Games to Chicago. Hopefully, I can add to bettering the movement in the U.S. and globally," said Sandusky, 34.
"There are obviously challenges ahead for the USOC, but there is also opportunity. This is a great opportunity to still be part of that."
Mayor Daley's four-year quest for Olympic gold ended with an embarrassing thud.
The IOC awarded the 2016 Summer Games to Rio de Janeiro, a sentimental favorite because the Olympics have never been held in South America.
But tensions between the USOC and IOC over revenue sharing, the USOC's proposal to create a television network and other issues have been blamed, in part, for the fact that Chicago got only 18 first round votes and was the first of four cities to be eliminated.
Some observers have gone so far as to suggest that no American city should bid for the Games until those tensions are resolved.
Sandusky strongly disagreed.
"Chicago didn't finish last. They were just voted out first. There's a difference. There were good strategic moves by some of the other cities" to make that happen, he said.
"No one lost the Olympic Games. Rio won it. At the end, the decision was to go somewhere the Olympics have never been. It was a mandate for a map — to go to South America."
Sandusky noted that bidding for the Olympic Games is "just a small part" of what the USOC does. It's "main focus" is Team USA and preparing for the Olympic Games, wherever they are held.
"My role will be to communicate how the USOC goes forward within the Olympic movement and important steps they take — both within the international community and, most importantly, in preparing for the Olympic Games in Vancouver," he said.
In a news release distributed from the USOC's headquarters in Colorado Springs, Streeter said she was "delighted" to have "a talent of Patrick's caliber" join the USOC team.
As a vice president for public relations giant Hill & Knowlton, Sandusky also worked on London's winning bid for the 2012 Summer Games.
"His many years of experience with the Olympic family through the London and Chicago bids, with sponsors of international sporting events and his broad media background will be invaluable in assisting the USOC to navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead," she said.