Cincinnati has traditionally had an undeserved reputation for underachieving. "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times," Mark Twain said. And even though the veracity of this quote is highly questionable, naysayers still love to parrot it.
In the late 1990s, though, a group of ambitious leaders in the Queen City, led by a PR man named Nick Vehr, attempted to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to Cincinnati. Inspired by the overall success of the games hosted a few years earlier in Atlanta, Vehr and his team felt the same could happen in Southwest Ohio. The Cincinnati Olympic bid committee, officially Cincinnati 2012 Inc., was facing a tough job. Several challenges lay ahead.
The first issue was finding enough suitable venues. For that, there was a three-pronged solution. The first was to use existing stadiums and arenas. The second involved using facilities in neighboring cities like Dayton, Columbus, and even Cleveland. The third was to build new ones if necessary.
Holding some Olympic events outside of Greater Cincinnati wasn’t all that far-fetched. Most of the events at the Atlanta games were held in the metro area. Some, though, were held in Columbus, GA, in the southwest part of the state. Savannah, on the Atlantic coast, was also utilized. Birmingham, AL, Washington, D.C., and the Florida cities of Tampa, Orlando, and Miami also hosted events.
In addition to using Riverfront Stadium (then Cinergy Stadium), or its replacement, planners also sought to use Firstar Center (formerly Riverfront Coliseum, now Heritage Bank Center), Paul Brown Stadium, and even the Cincinnati Gardens. There was also a plan to put a dome on UC’s Nippert Stadium. The university’s other venues would also be used.
Additionally, a huge Olympic village, including an 80,000 seat stadium, would have been built immediately west of Longworth Hall in Queensgate. After the games, the stadium would have been reconfigured into a smaller venue, possibly for an expansion team in the then three-year-old Major League Soccer.
Cincinnati Olympic 2012 Inc. raised over $5.5 million but was confronted with several issues beyond its control, one of which was the riots in spring 2001. While things had calmed down, many said the situation would give the U.S. Olympic Committee pause.
Another problem was Issue 3, which passed a few years earlier. That measure amended the city's charter and prohibited extending legal protection to homosexuals. Today, it’s hard to believe that such a thing was possible, but back then it did happen.
Officials in Atlanta had faced a similar problem when they were planning for the 1996 games. Neighboring Cobb County had passed a resolution condemning the “gay lifestyle.” In response, Atlanta organizers re-routed the path of the Olympic torch and moved the site of the volleyball contests out of Cobb County and out to Athens.
Even without those issues, transportation and lodging became areas of concern. Hotels and other lodgings could be built in time for the games. However, moving people around greater Cincinnati, and to outlying venues in Cleveland, Dayton, and Columbus, was a bigger challenge.
The city’s prospects took another hit when it was reported in August by the Washington Post that “the IOC will never again award the games to another second-tier U.S. city like Atlanta.'” Ouch for Atlanta, and not great news for the bidding cities of Dallas/Ft. Worth, Tampa/Orlando, Houston, and of course, Cincinnati.
In October, the ax finally fell as the United States Olympic Committee took the first step to name its candidate to play host to the 2012 Summer Olympics whittling down the roster of hopefuls to New York, Baltimore/Washington, San Francisco, and Houston. Cincinnati, along with Los Angeles, Tampa/Orlando, and Dallas/Ft. Worth was all eliminated. London, England was the eventual winner.
Whether or not it was accurate at the time, the notion that the IOC would only focus on large, international cities to host future summer games turned out to be true. In addition to London, subsequent games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro (2016), Tokyo (2020), Paris (2024), and Los Angeles (2028). Oddly, the 2032 games were awarded to Brisbane, Australia. No doubt a fine town, but not necessarily the first city one thinks of as international in that part of the world. Who knows? Cincinnati’s Olympic dreams may yet be realized.
153 comments
Chris Bradley
Even when I dated my wife for years, cohabited with her and vetted her thoroughly and ensured her family accepted me to part of them, the fact that ferminity is mallaeble came to play out in my marriage. She had some close friends who were single and most are still single till date. They had a huge influence on my wife and that alone always made us had issues. Eventually she left me and i had to seek help from Dr Isikolo knowing he is capable of restoring the love and happiness we shared and to also get her back to me. I complied with everything Dr Isikolo told me and my wife came back home with regrets of paying attention to fake friends and we are happy together again now. You can read about his works on his page (https://isikolo-temple.com) or might as well text him via WhatsApp on: +2348133261196
Jason Oswald
I lost my marriage after 2 years and it was a horrible experience for me. My wife left me and my son and everything happened beyond my control and I never knew few people around me engineered my wife and turned her against me just because I choose to build my family and focus more on it. I had to seek help because I know I did not do anything to have my marriage crashed. Dr Isikolo helped me and a lot was revealed to me on what transpired. He cast a love reunion spell that bonded my wife and I back together and the whole evil my family did against me was revealed. Am thankful that my home is back more happier than ever and all the appreciation goes to Dr Isikolo as he indeed fixed my problems just after 48 hours. Text him on WhatsApp via +2348133261196 or review his page https://isikolo-temple.com
Kristine Fishell
I have faced many challenges in my life, particularly financial ones. I have experimented with various jobs and business ventures but none seemed to be successful for me. As the saying goes, when you exhaust your options, you look for assistance. During my search for self-improvement, I came across someone sharing their gratitude towards Meduza, the renowned spell caster for helping them win the lottery. Initially, I had my doubts but I felt compelled to give it a shot since my life was falling apart. I contacted him for help, and he agreed to assist me with a prosperity spell. It took almost three days for him to complete the spell for me and after two weeks, I found myself among the fortunate winners of $1 MILLION from the Elon Musk give away. At this moment, I want to state that Meduza is the top spell caster I have discovered online and I would appreciate your support in expressing my immense gratitude to him via his email: lordmeduzatemple@hotmail.com or WhatsApp +1 807 907-2687.
Kristine Fishell
I have faced many challenges in my life, particularly financial ones. I have experimented with various jobs and business ventures but none seemed to be successful for me. As the saying goes, when you exhaust your options, you look for assistance. During my search for self-improvement, I came across someone sharing their gratitude towards Meduza, the renowned spell caster for helping them win the lottery. Initially, I had my doubts but I felt compelled to give it a shot since my life was falling apart. I contacted him for help, and he agreed to assist me with a prosperity spell. It took almost three days for him to complete the spell for me and after two weeks, I found myself among the fortunate winners of $1 MILLION from the Elon Musk give away. At this moment, I want to state that Meduza is the top spell caster I have discovered online and I would appreciate your support in expressing my immense gratitude to him via his email: lordmeduzatemple@hotmail.com or WhatsApp +1 807 907-2687.
Anna joe
i want to share to the whole world how Dr masako the Great of all the Spell Caster, that helped me reunite my marriage back, my Ex Husband broke up with me 3months ago, I have been trying to get him back ever since then, i was worried and so confused because i love him so much. I was really going too depressed, he left me with my kids and just ignored me constantly. I have begged him for forgiveness through text messages for him to come back home and the kids crying and miss their dad but he wont reply, I wanted him back desperately. we were in a very good couple and yet he just ignores me and get on with his life just like that, so i was looking for help after reading a post of Dr masako on the internet when i saw a lady name SHARRON testified that Dr masako cast a Pure love spell to stop divorce. and i also met with other, it was about how he brought back her Ex lover in less than 24 hours at the end of her testimony she dropped his email, I contacted Dr masako via email and explained my problem to Dr masako and he told me what went wrong with my husband and how it happen, that he will restored my marriage back, and to my greatest surprise my Ex husband came back to me, and he apologized for his mistake, and for the pain he caused me and my children. Then from that day our marriage is now stronger than how it was before, Dr masako you’re a real spell caster, you can also get your Ex back and live with him happily: Contact Email doctormasako@gmail.com or Call/whatsapp +2349047144277 Visit his Website: https://doctormasako2.wixsite.com/drmasakospelltemple
Leave a comment
This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.