L.A., CHICAGO SUBMIT BIDS FOR OLYMPICS U.S. GROUP TO TURN IN NOMINATION FOR 2016 SUMMER SITE BY SEPT. 15.

Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer

With millions of dollars, civic pride and prestige at stake, Los Angeles and Chicago submitted detailed plans Monday in their separate bids to host the 2016 Olympics.

``We think we have submitted a wonderful bid and stand a good chance,'' said Barry Sanders, chairman of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. ``We have laid out what we can do right now and what we are hoping to do for the Games and what they would mean to Los Angeles and California.''

Chicago officials voiced the same type of optimism, along with the hope that the U.S. Olympic Committee will look kindly on their city, which has never hosted the Summer Games, rather than Los Angeles, which has seen two previous Olympics.

But Sanders said he would not get into a bidding war with the Windy City.

``Both the bids are confidential and I wouldn't say anything against Chicago. It wouldn't be sporting,'' Sanders said.

However, Sanders did point out that metropolitan Los Angeles already has Olympic-quality venues and that a shooting facility planned for Pomona would be the only new facility that would be needed.

As it did in the 1932 and 1984 Games, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum -- updated, of course -- would serve as the centerpiece of a 2016 Games.

The always-popular gymnastics events would be held at Staples Center; swimming in Long Beach; basketball at the Honda Center in Anaheim; with other events at the new Galen Center at USC, the Home Depot Center in Carson and Pyramid Arena at California State University, Long Beach.

UCLA would serve as the Athletes Village, while USC would house officials and the media.

``One of the advantages we have is that we can stage events prior to the Olympics at the facilities the athletes will compete in during the Games,'' Sanders said. ``They love that and it means we don't need a long, drawn-out construction program. We can concentrate on the planning and cultural events for the Games.''

Chicago officials refused to divulge details of their 500-page plan, saying only that it would be a ``compact'' Olympics built around that city's downtown.

``We don't want Rio or Tokyo to pick off what we're doing,'' the Chicago Olympic Committee's Patrick Sandusky told Chicago newspapers.

Los Angeles and Chicago will host visits by the U.S. Olympic Committee in early March, and will make a final presentation in late April.

The USOC will submit its nomination for the 2016 Games by Sept. 15 to the International Olympic Committee. That group has said it will make its announcement in October 2009 among as many as 20 cities from around the world.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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