USOC to seek 2016 Olympic Games

COLORADO SPRINGS, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Olympic Committee said it will nominate either Chicago or Los Angeles to be the site for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth, in a release Tuesday, said "the time is right" for the United States to be the host for the Summer Games. The last Summer Olympics in the United States was 1996 in Atlanta. Salt Lake City was the site of the 2002 Winter Games.

"The Chicago and Los Angeles bids are led by passionate teams who believe, as do we, that the Olympic Movement holds more hope and promise for the future than any other international movement at work today," USOC Vice President, International Bob Ctvrtlik said.

Chicago has never been the site of the Olympic Games. Los Angeles played host to the Games in 1932 and 1984.

The USOC said committees from the applicant cities must submit bid books by Jan. 22. The USOC will announce its choice for 2016 on April 14. That city will go into an international pool from which the International Olympic Committee will select the 2016 site during a meeting in 2009.