NAIROBI (Reuters) – The United States Olympic Committee is ready to help improve the sporting infrastructure in Africa, former world and Olympic 400 meters hurdles champion Edwin Moses said on Friday.
Moses, who is touring Africa as part of Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid, told reporters in Nairobi a Kenyan delegation would visit Colorado Springs next week to sign bilateral agreements to train high-caliber officials in the United States.
“We will sign serious agreements with NOCs (National Olympic Committees) in Africa to help improve infrastructure. We are liaising with people here to know their needs,” the 1976 and 1984 Olympic champion said.
“We signed an agreement with the Cameroon football body to build the CAF Football Academy, while a Kenyan delegation will fly out to Colorado Springs to roll out sports management training in top level graduate schools,” Moses, 54, said.
“People here must think out of the box and start training high-caliber officials to return here to develop the infrastructure, not just think of sending athletes to the U.S.,” added Moses, chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy.
Chicago is competing with Tokyo, Rio De Janeiro and Madrid for the right to host the 2016 Olympics. The decision will be made in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month.
I hope this still applies in the unfortunate for them case that Chicago misses the Olympics and more importantly after 2016 (in either case). We’ll see…