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NMI, Guam venues under Olympic scrutiny
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Posted on May 29 2004
The Department of Interior will fund a $53,000 technical grant to determine the feasibility of developing Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands as Olympic training venues for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, according to a press release from the University of Guam.
Guam National Olympic Committee President Rick Blas said that money could be redirected because he already asked high-ranking U.S. Olympic Committee officials to come to Guam to “look at what we have.”
The proposal, written by the presidents of UOG and the Northern Marianas Community College, was submitted to the Department of Interior in January after receiving approval from both Guam Gov. Felix Camacho and CNMI Gov. Juan Babauta.
“We could have helped,” Blas said with regard to the proposal.
Blas said USOC President Bill Martin and Greg Harney, managing director of the USOC’s International Relations Division, have told him they plan to visit Guam in late October or sometime in November. He will follow up with them in August during the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Blas called Harney “a friend of Guam” who provided help in the past.
UOG athletic director Bob Pelkey said the university wasn’t trying to infringe on the GNOC’s role. He said UOG was merely following up on a suggestion from Department of Interior officials, and it was one avenue the university is looking at to develop its sports complex while trying to get some funding to be an Olympic training venue.
“We’re not trying to be adversaries,” he said. “We want to marry with them.”
Immediately preceding each Olympiad, it has been standard practice for U.S. Olympians and Olympians from other countries to conduct training activities in a time zone in or near the games’ venue that as closely as possible approximates the altitude and climate of the venue of the games themselves.
“The study will help guide us as we pursue sports tourism,” UOG President Harold Allen said. “It is also an example of how partnerships have the potential to reap benefits for the region.”
