Kathy Bergen

When former UN Ambassador Andrew Young thinks back to how Atlanta clinched the 1996 Olympics, one word comes to mind: Africa.
"We got them to vote for us in a bloc, on the grounds that we were an African city, that it was not our fault we were brought to America as slaves," the civil rights leader and co-chairman of Atlanta's bid told the Chicago Tribune. "If it hadn't been for the African bloc, we could've gone out on the first ballot."
Though Chicago and Atlanta are different cities, and geopolitical circumstances have shifted since Atlanta's win in 1990, the southern city's experience holds crucial lessons for Chicago as it heads to Nigeria this week for its fifth and final pitch to a continental athletic gathering:
Within the International Olympic Committee, an organization that aims to promote world peace through sport, regional loyalties still matter among its 107 voters.