Chicago cleared a hurdle in its rac...

Chicago cleared a hurdle in its race to armed force the 2016 Olympics on Wednesday, making the make an incision in as the U.S. Olympic Committee trimmed the list of possible armed force cities to three.

The USOC picked Chicago, San Francisco and looks Angeles to move to the nearest stage of selection -- and eliminated Philadelphia and Houston.

"Chicago bring forward forth a very bold and innovative plan," the USOC's clip Ctvrtlik said.

if it were not that Ctvrtlik and USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth made it clear that plans submitted by dint of Chicago and the other cities will have to be revised to be prosperous

USOC MAY NOT SUBMIT BID AT ALL

"There's none that has an acceptable program that we could take to the International Olympic Committee" at this point, Ueberroth said.

Stung through the failure of New York's bid for the 2012 games, Ueberroth's assign places to has not decided whether the United States will bid for the 2016 Olympics. The USOC will make that decision by way of the end of the year.

The IOC will pick the final winner in 2009 Other contender include Rome Madrid, Hamburg and sum of two units Japanese cities -- Tokyo and Fukuoka.

Mayor Daley said he was "honored" by dint of the USOC's decision. "We think we have the best proposal, we believe, of any city at all," Daley said.

Daley's vision includes building a collapsible stadium between Soldier Field and McCormick Place, a promenade linking the venue and an Olympic village at Michael Reese Hospital.

L.A. HAS elucidation ADVANTAGES

Chicago could face an uphill fight, however. Ueberroth hails from looks Angeles and planned the 1984 Summer Games there. L.A. also has a solution advantage -- its arenas are already built.

To stable the U.S. bid, Chicago must build or commit to an 80000- seat track-and-field stadium according to next March. Ctvrtlik raised questions Wednesday about Daley's two-stadium plan.

"We have about questions as far as the footprint for backstage

operations," Ctvrtlik said.

eherman@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided by the agency of ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved