Editorials

SAN FRANCISCO — Anne Cribbs has no trouble convincing people that hosting the 2012 Olympic Games would be a good thing for the San Francisco Bay area. 

The games would bring about $7.4 billion to the Bay Area, not to mention new housing, improved public transportation and global recognition and tourism. 

And a recent poll found that 84 percent of Bay Area residents support the quest. 

But getting people to believe it’s a likely possibility — after the Atlanta Games in 1996 and Salt Lake City winter games this year — is another matter for Cribbs, the chief executive officer of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, the nonprofit organizer of San Francisco’s bid. 

Cribbs, who won a gold medal as a 15-year-old swimmer in the 400-meter medley at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, compared an Olympic bid to competitions where outcomes are determined by performance and spirit. 

“It’s kind of like a race,” she said. “You need to stay in the race and do your best because you can’t predict what will happen.” 

Four finalists remain in the campaign to win the U.S. Olympic Committee’s nomination as the U.S. bid city: Washington, New York, Houston and San Francisco. The committee will visit the four bid cities this summer and make a decision Nov. 2. 

Local supporters will host a news conference Wednesday with several Olympic athletes, including sprinter Michael Johnson, to unveil a new logo and financial details of its campaign. 

The local committee’s small staff works out of a simple office in Palo Alto and has spent three years building bridges between leaders of Bay Area cities, businesses and athletes. 

The committee also boasts 115 people on its board including numerous past and present Olympians, including swimmer Matt Biondi, runner Billy Mills and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi. 

Board members say nearly 400 past and present Olympians live in the Bay Area. Venue planners have consulted athletes to find out exactly what kind of facilities athletes want. 

Last week, the committee released a 300-page addendum to its 700-page bid, showing that 92 percent of the competition sites will be within 32 miles of the proposed Olympic village at Moffett Field near Mountain View.