New Yorkers and Olympic officials gather at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore to decide NYC2012's future

Setrak Agonian, the president of the Metropolitan Wrestling Association visited 117th IOC Session in Singapore on July 3-7 2005. New York City officials like Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Doctoroff, the Sports Commissioner Mr. Ken Podziba; USOC members, olympic champions and other NYC2012 supporters were present at the meeting..

All candidate cities presented ther plans for the olympics, and representatives of all sports made short presentations on their activities and plans for the olympic movement. Mr. Agonian presented current and future activities in amature wrestling for the metropolitan area of New York. He pointed out the success and growth of interest in wrestling since the world championship in freestyle wrestling in 2003 as a perfect example of how well New York City can hadle big sports events and if New York is chosen to host the 2012 Olympic Games, it will be another astonishing success.

Setrak Agonian, president MWA; NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Ken Podziba, NYC Sports Commissioner; on the NYC2012 presentation in Singapore

New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg confirmed Mr. Agonians expactaction as said
"One of the resons why New York should be the right choicee for the 2012 olympic games is that we have olympic village in New York every day. We don't have to learn how to welcome the world, the world allready lives with us. Every day they are part of us. Thats what we are all about.

I leave you with one thought when you want to think about the olympics. In Athens there was a lot of events; when there was a Greek athlete in the ring, in the pool, on the track, on the field, there was enormous charge in the audience. There were people yelling and screaming of enthusiasm and the rest of the time there was polite applause. In New York no matter what the sport, no matter what the two countries are, you would have people from the home town. We don't have to get them flags of their countries, because they allready have them. This would be the hometown olympic of every single country of the world. We are the right place, the right time, the right city - New York City."

Jim Scherr, president USOC; Dan Doctoroff, Depury Mayor NYC and Director NYC2012; Setrak Agonian, president MWA; just before the official announcement of the winner city by the IOC

Dan Doctoroff, NYC2012 director said on 4th of July's Independance Day celebractions in Singapore that more than 2000 olympians and para-olympians from 64 countries had voulenteered their support for our bid, because they know that there is no better place to compete than the most competitive on Earth - New York City.

Dr. Richard Parsons, Chairman Time Warner; Henry Kissinger, past president and honorable IOC member; Mr. Setrak Agonian, president MWA; During the 4th of July party.

Eleven years ago Dan Doctoroff decided to toss New York 's hat in the ring for the Olympic Games in 2008. But during the preliminary process circumstances arose that caused him to reconsider. He made it clear that he was withdrawing his deposit, but at a lunch with me at the club he decided to focus his energies on 2012.

Two things need to be said at this point: staging the Olympic Games may begin as a vaguely optimistic dream, but a harsh, daunting reality quickly sets in. The important concomitant to enthusiasm is the ability to slog through numberless details and the executive know-how to pull disparate city and sporting factions together.

Not only did Doctoroff do this, but with the assistance of Mayor Bloomberg and other top-line “team members” he did it with energy, experience, and élan--an effort that could truly be describe as Olympic.

There were many factors that militated against the possibility of New York 's getting the 2012 Games. Everyone had a list. Dick Pound, Canadian Olympic leader, and long a leading IOC executive, said the U.S. paid a price for being the world's superpower. Affection for superpowers is always in short supply. There was a stadium problem, but was there actually anyone who thought that New York couldn't come up with a stadium in seven years? I doubt it. And the compromise at Shea was effected with almost dazzling speed.

IOC voting is secret and inscrutable. But the tallies have a way of leaking out. The Mayor of Moscow called Mayor Bloomberg at NYC headquarters in Singapore to wish him luck. He needed luck himself, since Moscow was eliminated on first round of voting. It was clear to U.S. veteran Olympic watchers that if New York survived the second round NYC 2012 had a real chance—a feeling strengthened by the superb final presentation made by the New York team on the previous day. By all accounts it was easily the most professional and detailed view of how a city would meet and exceed its Olympic responsibilities.

But for reasons not entirely clear the U.S. lost votes on the second round and was eliminated. The disappointment was enormous, but the response by Mayor Bloomberg and Dan Doctoroff was both eloquent and inspiring and completely in the spirit of sportsmanship. Both speeches were videotaped and deserve much wider dissemination. Adlai Stevenson would have been proud.

Certainly the New York delegation did not lack power at the social events preceding the voting. Henry Kissinger, Senator Hillary Clinton, Congressman Charles Rangel, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, labor legend Edward Molloy, the legendary Ali, NYAC Hall of Famer Charlie Moore, many more names.

As of hospitality Singapore left nothing to chance. A beautiful, starkly modern city built on dozens of islands, Singapore offered luxurious accommodations, fine Oriental cuisine, and delightful side trips especially to the municipal zoo which features people friendly birds and monkeys.

In the past few years many other people contributed to the New York effort, but a particular value was the World Championship in wrestling held in Madison Square Garden in September 2003. What the event did was exemplify for a large international contingent how efficiently and graciously New York City handles major international competition. NYC Sports Commissioner Ken Podziba and Wendy Hilliard were among the dozens of officials who participated with such dedication.

Some observers wondered if the decision to eliminate baseball and softball from the 2012 Olympic program had an influence on the voting. It is certainly true that the Summer Games have become unwieldy and trimming is necessary, but it is a surprise that nations like Japan , Cuba , Venezuela , Korea , and the Dominican Republic did not put up stronger resistance.

Dan Doktoroff with his family


Jim Scherr with Ken Podziba


Jen Podziba and Hillary Clinton


Ken Podziba and the White house representative


Mrs Roge and Setrak Agonian


Nadya Komannichi and Setrak Agonian


NYAC Members for NYC2012


New York Amateur Alliance Members for NYC2012


New York City Supporters for NYC2012



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