Local Olympics panel backed to promote Marianas

The Executive Branch favors the creation of a local Olympics committee to promote the Marianas—the CNMI and Guam—as training sites for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Governor’s senior policy adviser Bob Schwalbach said this group would have to lobby various national Olympic committees and sports bodies to send some of their athletes to the Marianas for training.

The Executive Branch, he said, is behind such undertaking.

“The governor fully supports this. He, in fact, worked for a grant for the feasibility study,” said Schwalbach.

He said the CNMI does not necessarily need to put up multi-million training facilities to lure athletes, as there are types of sports that do not require the Marianas to initiate major spending. These may include archery, softball, synchronized swimming, track and field, and the like.

He noted that the newly completed Oleai Track and Field “is world-class,” saying it has been certified as a facility that meets international standard. The Marpi swimming pool, he said, can accommodate synchronized swimming groups.

Tucker & Associates, which conducted the feasibility study for the CNMI and Guam last year, gave good marks to the Northern Marianas College Gymnasium, the Marianas High School Gymnasium, the state-of-the-art track and field facility and the soccer field at the Oleai Sports Complex.

The consultant said the NMC Gym is in excellent condition and could be used for basketball, volleyball, and wrestling.

It said MHS Gym is a first-class facility that could also be used for the same activities.

It described Oleai Track and Field Facility as “excellent, new, and meets international standards.”

Tucker & Associates, however, said improvements should be made on the rest of the sports facilities on Saipan, namely the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field and the adjacent softball at the Oleai complex, the Kan Pacific Baseball Field in Marpi, and other small public and private facilities around the island.

Tucker & Associates is a McLean, VA-based company that specializes in international trade, strategic planning, government affairs, and public relations.

Its chairman William Tucker, was a member of the U.S. National Olympics Committee in 1997.

Schwalbach said that based on the consultant’s recommendations, an Intra-Marianas Olympics Authority should be set up to serve the purpose of attracting countries and sports bodies to train here.

The group would consist of representatives from hotel associations, restaurant associations, governors’ offices, university/college offices, visitor authorities, and other relevant public and private agencies.

Part of the recommendation is the passage of a bill in early 2005 to establish the IMOA to ensure funding for the marketing of Guam and the CNMI as Olympic training venues and processing centers.

Tucker had earlier said that his company has forwarded the feasibility study to the U.S. National Olympic Committee and respective NOCs of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

He said there have been some positive feedback from Australia, Canada, and the U.K.

The Babauta administration received a $53,000 grant from the Office of the Insular Affairs to hire a specialist to evaluate Guam and the CNMI’s potential as training sites for the participants in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.