Deteriorating USOC-IOC relations threaten both organizations

By Amy Shipley

Washington Post Staff Writer 

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The U.S. Olympic Committee nominated Chicago in the race for the 2016 Olympics determined to bring the Summer Games back to American soil for the first time since 1996 in Atlanta. Embarrassed four years ago when New York was eliminated in the second round of voting for the 2012 Games that were awarded to London, the USOC and Chicago bid leaders appeared to have left nothing to chance. They secured airtight funding, a sound infrastructure plan, the relentless enthusiasm of Mayor Richard M. Daley and -- in what many viewed to be the clincher -- an unprecedented final-hours lobbying appearance by a sitting president.