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CNN Live At Daybreak

IOC Will Vote Tomorrow on City of 2008 Summer Olympics

Aired July 12, 2001 - 07:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: The excitement is building; the waiting is almost over. The International Olympic Committee meets tomorrow, in Moscow, to vote on which of five cities will get to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Well, the candidates are -- drum roll please -- Beijing; Istanbul, Turkey; Osaka, Japan; Paris; and Toronto.

We have correspondents in three of those candidate cities, as well as in Moscow: from Beijing, senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy; in Paris, bureau chief Peter Humi; in Toronto, Bill Delaney; and from Moscow, bureau chief Jill Dougherty.

And Mike Chinoy, we want to begin with you in Beijing. What is the expectation there?

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a serious case of Olympic fever sweeping Beijing. It is the number one topic of conservation on the streets. You can hardly go anywhere without seeing posters, signs, billboards, in shopping malls, everywhere you go. In the run-up to the decision, the government is organizing a series of mass events, in a country that is used to mass mobilization and mass campaigns. But unusual ones -- mass roller- blading, roller-skating, and tango dancing in Tienanmen Square, for example -- trying to whip up popular enthusiasm.

It didn't need much whipping up. The Chinese feel that this is really their year. They were bitterly disappointed when the bid that they made in 1993 to hold the 2000 Olympics failed. They feel this time, China, the capital of the world's most populist nation -- a country that has never hosted the Olympics -- it's Beijing's turn.

At the same time, though, when you talk to government officials, they are aware that China's human rights record is a liability, and also that Beijing's status as a front runner in the countdown to this decision could also work against it. There is some sense the momentum may be shifting elsewhere, that maintaining that front-runner status to the very, very end is not so easy.

But a lot of hope, a lot of optimism that this time Beijing will finally achieve what it's been so desperately seeking.

STOUFFER: Well, Mike, I'm betting they do not think it's Beijing's year in France. We want to take you to Paris.

Peter Humi, what is the feeling in the City of Lights?

PETER HUMI, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF: I think even the French would admit that the Chinese candidate city Beijing, of course, is the favorite. They do consider, though, as the second favorite. I think if it was up to the Romantically inclined, Paris would be chosen for the 2008 Games -- probably for every Olympic game, actually.

What the authorities there are proposing is to turn some of the better known landmarks around the town -- such as the Eiffel Tower, and other places like this -- into temporary sites for the 2008 Games. They're also crossing their fingers, of course, hoping that a French city would be third time lucky. Limoges and Lille were bidders in the late-1980s and early '90s. They didn't win, and they're hoping very much that Paris will.

One of the pluses, according to the Olympic Bid Committee here in Paris, is that all the events, with the exception of sailing, canoeing, and one or two other water sports, would be held within the greater Paris areas, making access for the athletes and the spectators alike much easier to all the various venues.

The estimate as to preparing and staging the Games is about $3.3 billion. The French say they've got that money. Half of it will come from the taxpayer, the rest from private business.

But mitigating against the Paris bid is what appears to be a recent Olympic tradition, holding games on different continents, and the games of 2004 are going to be in Athens, Greece, which is in Europe, of course. So the Parisians are crossing their fingers and hoping that the Olympic Committee might break with tradition for once.

STOUFFER: The intrigue continues.

The next candidate, of course, is Toronto.

Bill Delaney, what is Toronto offering to all of this?

BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what Toronto is offering in a vista behind me, although somewhat obscured perhaps by a ferry boat at the moment, the lovely vista of downtown Toronto what the vast majority of Olympic athletes would see should Toronto be chosen for 2008.

I'm standing on a kind of peninsula out into the inner harbor where the vast majority of Olympic events would take place and there's a lot of growing optimism here in Canada and in Toronto that their bid may come through. A steady drumbeat on television, radio and in newspapers that China's bid is slipping and Toronto's is improving. Canadian officials now believe it's between them and China. And what you hear here again and again is kind of a mantra of Canadian Olympic officials that they are the risk-free choice.

Now what that means is they say they have a very sophisticated technological and communications network and that here in the inner harbor, where I'm standing, an already underway urban renewal project here for the waterfront has already made it possible for them to create some 70 percent of Olympic venues. They say they're 70 percent ready to go for the 2008 Olympics. There are equestrian grounds, rowing facilities, arenas all set to go.

Now as for that risk-free motto, what is not said quite as out loud by Canadian Olympic officials is that that may also refer, many believe here, that also refers to Canada's relative political stability as compared to China's political uncertainty. So a lot of optimism here in Toronto in the waning hours of this that they may yet get the 2008 bid.

Back to you.

STOUFFER: Safe can be good. Not a bad position to be in.

But we want to take you now to Moscow, that's where the decision will be made and the announcement will come tomorrow.

Jill Dougherty, what can you tell us about that?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Linda, you know the odd thing about this, of course it's being held in Moscow, but Moscow is not a contender. The mayor would like them to be. In fact, he's hoping that they could have a bid in 2012, but at this point, they're not candidates.

But what the Russians are talking about is the historic nature of this. There are two big decisions. Number one, of course, is the city. Number two is the next president of the I.O.C. and that would be who will replace Juan Antonio Samaranch who has been in that position for 21 years.

Now, in terms of the cities, of course the - we've been reporting that one of the leading candidates of course is Beijing but there has been some opposition. And here in Moscow, we have had a few very small demonstrations, but demonstrations nonetheless, against China. People hauled off by the police, yesterday, for an unsanctioned demonstration.

In terms of the timing, today it opened up, President Putin talking about peace and brotherhood. Tonight, a reception and then the big decision tomorrow - Linda.

STOUFFER: All in the Olympic spirit.

Jill Dougherty from Moscow, thank you very much for that. Mike Chinoy in Beijing, in Paris Peter Humi, in Toronto Bill Delaney, thank you all for that globe-trotting update on that.

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